Halo: Enter the Vale
by Reaper81609
Summary: Will is a Spartan III super soldier, his mission was to deliver an experimental crystal, but during a Slip-Space anomaly he is forced to crash on an unknown planet, a place called Ferelden.
1. Chapter 1

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 1

**AN: Hello all, this is a project I decided to start most recently, being a Halo and Dragon Age fan i decided to finally do a crossover of the two. i apologize if the beginning of this chapter seems rushed, also of what i have come to understand most recently it may seem a little bit similar to another Halo-Dragon Age crossover called Lost and it was never intended to be. please leave a review and tell me what your thoughts are and if i am doing good so far, enjoy!**

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><p>Will lay on the ground as he crawled his way forward, his Sniper rifle in hand. He stopped and aimed his rifle as he approached the ledge, taking aim at the elite that stood guard. He swept the area making sure that no one would notice when the elite dropped dead. Being satisfied with how little the area was guarded, he lined up the shot and pulled the trigger, his rifle ringing out and the elite slammed against the wall, his blood and brain matter covering it.<p>

He jumped down and slid down the rocky drop, hopping down and pulling out his pistol, also drawing his dagger as he approached another elite who hadn't heard his approach.

He jumped up on its shoulders and dug the knife into the large aliens blue armor, purple blood spilling out of the wound. He pulled the dagger out and set the body down quietly as he continued forward, hiding behind a corner as a large group of grunts passed. After they were a good distance away, he crept from the corner and quietly made his way to the labs.

The Covenant may have taken this base and slaughtered the scientists working on the Forerunner artifacts, but he was determined to make sure they paid for it. He punched in the code that opened the lab doors and rushed in when they opened, quickly silencing the two jackals examining test tubes. He looked around for his target, a small white crystal that apparently was in the middle of research when the Covies showed up.

He looked around before finding a cylindrical glass tube that contained a white crystal about 15 centimeters long and 7 centimeters in diameter. He grabbed it and set it on a magnetic strip on his back, turning and coming face-to-face with an elite clad in red, an energy sword in hand.

He quickly rolled to the side as the sword lashed out and severed several tubes containing several liquids in half, their contents spilling onto the floor. He stood and charged the elite, ducking the sword and grabbing the arm holding it, pulling the elite closer. He chopped the elbow, breaking it, the elite cried out in pain and Will wretched the sword out of its hand and turned it around, impaling the elite with his own sword.

It gave out a choked cry as it collapsed on the floor, Will looked at the energy blade in his hand and turned it off, putting it on his hip, it may come in handy later. He searched the body for anything else of use and pulled a needle rifle and several extra bundles for it from the corpse, hey the elite wasn't gonna be using it any time in the near future.

He looked around and heard several pairs of feet scampering across the floor, the reinforcements were coming, great. He set the rifle on his back with his rifle and put the spare clips in a pouch on his hip, checking the schematics of the building and finding an alternate exit. He ran out the other exit and made way for the hangar, his Short sword should hopefully still be there.

He hid as a group of several grunts, jackals, and elites ran down the hall, he peered out and ran across the hall to the hangar, almost running into a group of elites. Thankfully he stopped himself and hid fast enough for them not to see, they were focused on something else thankfully.

He heard them talking about something in their language, unfortunately he didn't know any of the Covenant language, but they seemed to be discussing something their apparent leader was holding. Will checked his timer, he had placed the bomb nearly half an hour ago and set the timer for 35 minutes, he needed to hurry if he planned on getting out of here. He activated his camo and tried his best to stay as quiet as a mouse, he snuck over to where he had hid the Short sword.

He looked around before deactivating his camo and punching in the codes to open the ramp. He climbed aboard and ran to the pilots seat, activating the fighter quickly and lifting off, he saw several Covenant burst into the hangar and began to open fire, but he took off before they could do any more than a little damage.

After a moment or two when he was out of range Will pulled a small cylinder with a red button on the top out of one of the compartments by the cockpit. _See you in hell you bastards_ he thought, pressing the button, a large nuclear flare erupted behind him, obliterating everything that remained of the base.

He finally sat back and sighed, he removed his helmet and set it down, grabbing the cylinder off of his back and inspecting it a bit more closely. It was interesting, it had several jagged edges like scales as they overlapped each other till it reached the sharp pointed tops.

He reached over and pressed activated comms, "Admiral, this is Spartan R816, I got the crystal, I'll be making the slip-space jump shortly," he said when the older man appeared on the screen,

"Good job Spartan, be cautious with it though, of what we have come to understand the crystal reacts strangely around slip-space ruptures. The Covenant worked hard to try and get their hands on it in the first place, let's not give it back to them," he said.

"Aye sir," Will said, the screen blackening and he looked at the cylinder one last time before putting it in a compartment and punching in the coordinates to the base on the planet Runtron.

He walked passed a terminal that was turned off and took a moment to inspect his features. His black hair had grown out about another two inches, a slight shadow of a beard coming in. He grabbed and rubbed his chin, turning his head a bit, the large scar that went across his right cheek to his chin was now became a lot more visible.

He rolled his shoulders and set his weapons in a compartment next to the cryo-tube he'd be sleeping in, minutes away from the slip-space jump. He didn't have enough time to get out of his armor, he'd have to deal with the rashes when he got out. He climbed in and the glass slowly lowered with a hiss as it sealed and he drifted to sleep.

He was completely unaware of the crystal that bow began to glow and begin to separate, the multiple sections floating around it as it gave off waves of energy that disrupted the Slip-space. The ship came out of it's jump two hours after it had initially entered, not nearly as soon as the Spartan needed it to be, but not only was the jump early, but also in a completely unfamiliar place.

The alarm on the cryo-tube activated and began to thaw the Spartan off. He woke up from his dream and looked around as the lid opened up, climbing out and realizing that the ship was disabled. He ran to the pilot's seat and checked the crystal. The hell happened, it was shattered into several pieces, each one had a faint glow to them which gradually faded.

He took his eyes off the crystal and tried to get control of the ship as it was entering atmosphere of a planet. As he closed in on the planet, which was dark on this side signifying it was most likely night, the ship began to heat up and a flame started to build around the Short sword.

As he fell into the night sky, the Short sword spiraling slightly, he saw a mountain and a large dense forest beneath him. No matter how hard he tried, he could only barely keep the ship stable, the EMP blast had shut down most of the systems. But as the forest came closer to meet him, one of the wings of the Short sword hit a large tree and the alarm began to blare as he lost all control of the fighter.

"Shit!" he yelled, buckling in the straps and doing his best to try to regain control of the ship, but his attempts were in vain. He braced for impact as the fighter quickly approached the ground, bouncing once, taking air, and bouncing again, taking out several trees that weren't strong enough to resist the fast moving fighter.

The ship slid to a stop and Will sat there for a moment, his right arm was sore, his chest throbbed and he had a pretty bad headache. He was able to unbuckle from the fighters pilot seat and collapse onto the ground as he tried to get up, only to collapse again and drift into unconsciousness.

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><p>Merrill sat up, her ear twitched and she strained again to hear what had woken her, it seemed to have been a large booming. She listened for a while, but all she heard were the crackling fires outside and the woodland creatures. She frowned and walked outside, stretching and looking around, upon finding nothing she went back into the tent, crawling back into the bedroll. She drifted to sleep again quickly thinking of the day ahead.<p>

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><p>Will woke up on the ground where he had collapsed, his vision was blurred and edged with darkness. He blinked his eyes and his vision began to come back to him. He groaned and pushed himself off the ground, a large piece of metal had fallen on his back, but he didn't notice it till it clanged to the ground as he sat up.<p>

He checked his armor diagnostics and there wasn't anything that wasn't too significant. He stood and stretched out for a moment before checking to see how long he had been out, about eight hours. He looked around and walked over to the compartment where he had placed his weapons, the sniper rifle had been split in half, but otherwise the pistol, needle rifle, and energy sword were in fairly good shape.

He grabbed the needle rifle and put it on his back, grabbing the extra bundles and putting them in the pouch they had been in earlier, taking the pistol in hand and placing the sword on his thigh. He checked the crystal one last time and then abandoned it, it was beyond repair at this point.

He walked over to the hatch and prayed to god that he wouldn't need to either punch his way through or climb out the main window, which had been shattered almost entirely in the crash. He typed in the command and nothing happened, he frowned, typing it in again for the same result. He sighed and braced himself, shooting forward and slamming into the metal with his shoulder, repeating this three more times before the hatch just fell, the pylons keeping it attached creaking as the metal slid.

He looked out at the forest, it was already day time and there was a large visible crevice that the ship had dug up when it had crashed. He rolled his shoulders and hopped down off the ship, if he was being tailed by the Covenant then he would have to get moving as soon as he could. He climbed out of the crevice, ignoring the pain and creeping into the forest, maybe he could find some humans here, he hoped so, because he definitely wasn't getting off in the Short sword.

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><p>After a while of walking, Will found a break in the woods that opened up to a small clearing, ten men stood in metal armor talking. The Spartan III used the magnifier in his helmet to get a better look, as good as his vision was, it was still a little messed up from the crash and the men were a while away. They were wearing heavy looking plate armor like the knights that he had learned about when he was training to be a Spartan.<p>

They even carried shields and metal swords of various sizes, they seemed to be talking about something. He crept forward so he could hear them better, he was several feet away from the edge of the clearing, but in the shadows so as to not be spotted.

They seemed to be discussing something when another man showed up. "Alright there's two elves in the next clearing, a girl with a large stick and another young boy who has a bow."

Will raised an eyebrow, his interest spiked at this, elves eh, "Alright this should be easy as pie, we just need to grab them and take them back, that or put a price on their heads."

Another man smacked the man upside the head at this comment, "Idiot, didn't you hear what he said, she has a staff, she's probably a mage, and the other has a bow. Either way though, we just need to sneak up on them and we should have them in the bag," the man said.

Will continued to watch as the slavers, at least what he guessed by the way they were talking, began to organize themselves before creeping into the forest. He sighed to relax his muscles before following them, elves, slavers, men in metal plate armor carrying metal swords and shields, before you know it there'll be dragons.

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><p>Merrill was sitting on the edge of the stream as Himlum scurried after a badger that ran under a rock. She swirled her foot in the cold water of the stream as she watched him, he had followed her here once before and now he came with her every time she went. She would have liked her privacy, but he didn't bother her much.<p>

As Merrill sat there she thought about all the sounds of the forest, though they were always around her, she still liked to listen to them from time to time. She closed her eyes and took a big sigh, opening her eyes to see that Himlum had run out of her line of sight. She didn't mind, it gave her more privacy and he knew how to take care of himself.

As she thought this, a metal clad hand slapped around her, mouth and another brought a dagger to her neck, she let off a startled muffled cry. "Try anything and I'll gut you and your friend," a bearded mouth said next to her, it stank of ale and meat.

She was pulled to her feet and she heard the struggle of another. The hand warily removed itself from her mouth and floated in front of her in case she yelled for help. When she bit her lip the hand withdrew and she felt her hands being bound, they turned her and she saw ten men in plate and leather armor scanning the area, Himlum in the arms of another human.

"Let me go you stupid shemlen," Himlum protested, which he was rewarded with a metal fist to his gut, he doubled over groaning.

"You said you wouldn't hurt him," Merrill said trying to go toward her friend to be pulled back, he chin was pulled back and the dagger took up its place on her neck.

"I said we wouldn't kill him, but I'll do the same to you if you don't stay quiet," the human that held her said.

She nodded and he let go of her, she stumbled a bit as he pushed her toward Himlum. She was so scared and nervous right now, she didn't want to offend the humans so they would hurt them, but she didn't know what they took offense too.

"Alright get them up and let's head back," a large one said, he was covered in plate armor and had horns on his helm as well as a dragon etched into his breastplate. She felt large hands grab her and force her off the ground, but then there was the sound like that of a bow and the man holding her let go, a large purple crystal stuck out of his eye slit.

"What the-?" the leader said, turning and looking at her, but she shook her head furiously and backed up as he walked toward her, pulling out a short sword.

"I didn't do anything!" she said frantically, tripping over a rock and falling back, her hands were thankfully bound on her front and she tried to crawl as he reached down to grab her.

The pink crystal that was in the mans face exploded and sent chunks of gore everywhere, Merrill cringed back as a streak of blood went across her cheek. There was another sound and another man fell over with a crystal in his neck, a second later it exploded and the mans head hung limply from only a few tendons.

There was movement in the woods, but when she turned her head it was gone. She was pulled to her feet and dragged over to Himlum and was forced back onto her knees. Suddenly the light seemed to bend around one of the humans when she looked back, and gasped when his neck was cut open and he fell to the ground.

All the remaining men circled around them, one of them grabbing Himlum, she tried to grab him, tried to make sure they didn't take him away from her, but she was struck in the face by a sword hilt.

"Show yourself!" the human that held Himlum yelled out, and surprisingly, he was answered.

"Gladly," a cool human voice said, a man appearing out of thin air in grey and black armor, but his was different, and he had no face behind his helmet. He lunged forward and grabbed the human that held Himlum, pulling the hand off the boys neck, and punching the other human in the face. Despite the fact the human wore a metal helmet, the fist dented the metal severely, the man stumbled.

The warrior pulled out an odd looking dagger that already had blood on it and it shot forward, opening the humans throat. He fell to his knees as he grabbed his throat, red blood gushing from the fatal wound as the warrior spun away from a thrust and swung around the man holding the sword, grabbing his head and spinning it with him, a loud crack was heard.

And when the warrior turned, a greatsword came crashing down upon him, but he caught it, slapping the metal together between his palms and holding the sword still, inches above his helmet. He slammed the sword down and sideways into the dirt, punching the human several times in his chest, his only defense was the leather armor, but audible snaps and cracks were heard with each blow. Finally the warrior brought a straight palm over his head and brought it down the humans head with a chopping motion, upon making contact a wet crack was also heard.

Four more humans were left standing, the leader included, the warrior held the blade like a dagger and took a pose as he brought the knife level to his face and circled the four remaining humans as they spread out around him. Merrill tried to move, but was grabbed by the leader, she struggled, the sound of a fight was heard as she fought against the large man before being hit again and pulled to her feet.

The human pressed an arm around her neck, a dagger in hand, and they both had surprised looks on their faces and Merrill gasped as the warrior stood looking at the last of the three who had attacked him. He looked up from the last man and lopped off his head with the mans own sword.

"Take another step and she dies!" the leader yelled at the warrior and he stopped briefly, Merrill whimpered as she felt the cold dagger press against her skin, the warrior stopped. "That's right, now kill the other elf boy over there and let us be on our way."

Merrill looked in horror as the large warrior looked at Himlum as he stumbled up, "No leave him alone!" she yelled and she was hit again.

"Quiet whore!" the man who was holding her said, but the large figure grabbed something from his thigh and held it up, a loud sound was heard as a flash came from the silver thing in the warriors hands. Merrill looked up as she felt the hold on her slacken, the man holding her stared blankly into the abyss, a blood trail running down his face as a small hole appeared on his helm.

He fell onto his knees before collapsing onto the ground and letting out his last breath.

She jumped back as the body fell nearly on her feet, bumping into something, she felt it, it felt like a smooth rock, and was thick and strong like one. She turned and jumped back again as she realized she had bumped into the warrior, his black mask following her movement.

"Please don't kill us, we were just minding our business when the humans attacked us," she pleaded. The figure made a step forward and she cringed back, expecting to die at any moment, but that moment never came, instead she felt him grab her hands and cut her restraints.

"I didn't plan on," the cool voice replied, she looked back at him to see that he was walking toward Himlum to undo his restraints.

She was so busy looking at the figure that she barely noticed when he walked back up to her, she shook her head and took a step back and inspected him more closely. He was very tall, nearly at least seven feet, he was very well built, but she expected that to mostly be his armor, and she still wasn't exactly sure he was human or not.

"Um hello," she said a little nervously, "are you a human?" she asked, looking at Himlum as he walked up to her.

"Yes, but I'm not quite like the humans you have seen," he responded, taking a step forward and looking closer at her. He stepped back again, "And you're elves huh?" he asked, what an odd question, of course they were.

"Why yes of course," she said, "Where did you come from? What was that thing you had in your hand a moment ago was it magic?" she asked.

He looked at her a little confused for a moment. "I crashed here in my fighter, and this," he said holding up his pistol for them to see, "this is a pistol, and no, it does not use magic, it uses bullets."

Merrill looked at him a little confused, "I'm sorry I must sound extremely rude, I didn't even ask your name, is that rude for humans? I haven't met a lot of them before, I mean humans." She said, her face reddening, she was very nervous, she always babbled when she was nervous.

"You're not being rude at all in my book," he said, putting the _pis-tol_ on his thigh again next to an odd looking artifact. "I am Spartan R-eight sixteen, or Reaper as several of my squad-mates call me," he said, Well that's an odd name.

She stared at him for a moment, "Um… would-would you like to come with us back to the camp, I'm not that good at magic and Himlum is hurt?" she asked him, the Keeper would hopefully be alright with a shemlen coming into camp, especially one that had saved their lives.

He nodded and walked over, delicately putting one hand on Himlum's back and sliding another under his knees, lifting him off the ground like he weighed no more that an arrow. She jogged over and grabbed her staff, walking back over to the Spartan and leading him in the direction they were supposed to.

"By the way," the Spartan said as they began to walk, "Your friend here is unconscious," he said in the same tone as before. He almost seemed to possess no emotion in his voice.

She frowned, "Well you'll still be able to carry him to the camp won't you?" she asked.

"Never said I couldn't," he said walking up the steep incline with ease.

Merrill watched him as he climbed, she felt a little warmer as she watched him, _quit it Merrill_, she told herself shaking her head, _I doubt he even likes you_, she thought, following him to the top. He stood waiting for her until she reached the top, "Alrighty then let's go," she said and they started walking again.


	2. Chapter 2

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 2

Merrill and the Spartan had been walking for a while staying generally silent despite the questions flying through her head. They stopped for a moment and Merrill took a moment to observe where they were a bit more closely. She sat down and rested her legs, massaging her feet as they were sore from the walking, she was confused as to why it was taking so long.

The Spartan put down Himlum and checked a purple, well she wasn't sure what it was, thing. She tilted her head curiously as she looked at it, it was purple in design and had a long snout-like thing on it, and purple shiny crystals on the top of it.

Maybe it was a staff of some sort, maybe it came with him from wherever he came from. A new question formed in her mind and was coming out of her mouth before she could stop it, "What exactly did you mean when you said you came from a fighter? Did you mean your father was a fighter?"

He stopped what he was doing and glanced up at her, "I never knew my father," he said. Then added, "But to answer your question, a fighter is a ship that is used to fight other ones in space."

Ships in space, did he mean the space between the oceans? "No I mean the space between planets, flying among the stars, I guess to put it into your perspective." She blushed a little, she had known she had thought aloud.

"Well since we're asking questions might I ask what your name is?" he said putting the purple staff on his back and resting his elbows on his knees.

"I'm sorry, I never did tell you… was I being rude? I mean-I—I mean I haven't met many humans before," she said, "and I'm babbling again." She felt her face get hotter.

He continued to look at her, she couldn't see his face so she didn't know how he reacted to it. "Of what I understand you're not," he said, "And I believe you've told that to me before…" he said spinning his hand a bit as it let it trail off, she still hadn't told him her name.

"I'm sorry, my name is Merrill, First of the Keeper," she said. Since they were on the topic of names she thought she'd ask about his, "Why do they call you Reaper, and why are you also called Spartan R-eight sixteen?"

He reached into a small pouch on his side and pulled out several oval shaped pieces of metal on a chain, but instead of being interconnected the metal was in the form of balls, interesting. "I collect lost souls, so to speak," he said, the comment made her shiver, between the name, the way he acted, fought, and moved, it was a bit scary to her. He put the metal links away and then added, "It's all that's left of my team, Roger Company, Red squad, I was leader and I made some poor decisions," his voice edged with emotion, the most he had expressed this entire time.

But so little that Merrill would have missed it if she had been listening so intently. She looked at him up and down, his posture was unchanged, "So why is your name so strange?"

He looked at her for a moment, she imagined he raised an eyebrow at that, "My name is Will." He said sitting straighter and looking to the right, immediately reaching back and grabbing the purple staff in two hands, all in the matter of a second. She still didn't know what was happening until an arrow came whistling out of the woods and barely missed her face.

Suddenly six men in plate and leather armor were charging out of the woods, sword above their heads and screaming like madmen. Will raised the rifle and fired twice, downing a man, the needles exploding after a moment. An arrow came flying from an archer on top of a pile of rocks, Will's head shot to the side as he dodged it, his hand shooting up and catching the shaft, snapping it in two with the same hand and putting the rifle in his back as they approached.

A man hesitated when he saw this and Will used this to run forward and grab his sword arm, his palm shooting out and breaking the mans shoulder even through his light plate armor. The man bellowed in pain and Will took the sword from his limp arm, raising it above his head and throwing it like it weighed no more than a dagger. The sword spun through the air before smashing against the archers chest, flinging him from the rocks.

The ranged threat was dealt with, Will thought as he finished off the man, breaking his neck with the arm he had wrapped around his neck. Three left, they started to surround him, he almost smiled, he reached down slowly to his hip and pulled the energy sword off the magnetic strip.

He checked quickly to be sure of Merrill's position, she was pulling the younger boy behind a tree, good. He threw the inactivate sword into the air and caught it as it came down, squeezing the pressure trigger, the energy blade popping out with the sound of lightning.

The men were visibly unnerved when they saw this, they shifted uncomfortably as he brought the sword down below his waist to take a stance, circling the small group. They rushed him at once, screaming and swinging their swords crazily, he parried a downward cut, the blade being sliced in half easily. He finished off the man by impaling him in the gut and spinning to the side to dodge another attack, slicing the mans armor and bones like butter, his entrails spilling onto the ground.

He grabbed a fighter by the throat and lifted him off the ground after lunging forward and taking the man by surprise before he could attack. He slammed the poorly armored human to the ground and decapitated him as he stood, taking a greatsword to his calf. His leg bent a little at the power of the blow, but it didn't even drain his shield to half, he turned and looked at his opponent, who was utterly baffled by what little affect it had on his, what would have bitten through armor and bone had he been wearing their armor.

He raised his hand and waved his finger back and forth, ah, ah, ah. The man yelled and made another sideways attack with the two-handed sword. Will raised the energy sword and it sliced the blade in half before it could touch him, the other half spinning harmlessly off his back. He decided to end this quickly, his sword shooting out as he passed the human, slicing his legs off at the knees, the man screamed. But as his useless legs gave way, Will sliced the air again and decapitated the man before he could hit the ground.

He looked at the carnage around him and deactivated the blade, scoffing as he did so, it was a poorly led ambush to begin with. He looked over to where he had seen Merrill dragging the boy and she ran forward, grabbing the staff off of her back and looking stupefied that the battle had already ended.

"You already killed them?" she asked confused as she looked about the carnage, her eyes finally rested on him. "I thought you said you didn't know magic?" she asked him also.

He raised an eyebrow and looked down at the deactivated sword, "It's not magic, it's concentrated plasma," he said. Judging by the look on her face she didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He noticed something that bothered him, his shields just returned to full strength, and even so that was slowly. He remembered to when he awoke on the ship, his shields had taken long to recharge as well, but not this slow, they must have been damaged.

"We should keep moving there might be more of them," he said, focused on what his instincts told him. He didn't see or hear anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything there. He walked over to where Merrill had dragged the young boy and picked him up, he was much more aware now, listening for everything so as not to almost be caught off guard again.

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><p>After several more hours they walked into the campgrounds, at least what was left of them. The only sign of the Dalish's presence here was the fire pits and wheel and foot prints. She instantly began to worry, why had they left without them?<p>

Then she remembered what the Keeper had told her that morning before she and Himlum set out. "We will be moving camp today, if you do not return when we leave then you find us at the village that is two days south from here." Had she really expected her to be able to manage on her own for two days with little to no magic training other than from her free time. Well and there was Himlum, but he was young as she was and had barely any training in fighting and bow work.

In fact if it hadn't been for the Spartan she and Himlum wouldn't have even had made it this far. She looked up at the giant as he knelt and set Himlum down, inspecting a wound that the boy had gotten in another smaller ambush.

She walked to him, "They have already set out south to a small town, it's about a two day journey," she told him and he nodded, picking Himlum up again. It was well past noon, but if they set out now they might be able to catch up with them.

"Lead the way then," he said looking behind them to make sure they weren't being followed she guessed.

"I think I know a short-cut there that all of the clan together wouldn't be able to use," she said remembering exploring a bit when they had first set camp.

He just nodded and they were off again.

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><p>A half hour later Merrill and the Spartan stood looking up the sheer rock face.<p>

"You sure this is the way?" he asked, this was nothing compared to what they had him do in training, but that didn't mean she could handle it. But then, he wasn't sure it the rocks could the sheer weight of his armor and the boy combined.

"Yes, I know it isn't the best of ways to go but I believe it will get us there faster," she said. "That or lead us in the opposite direction toward the mountains," she added and he looked at her. "I never made a map or anything, I just spotted it when we passed it," she said and he threw the boy over his shoulder and began to climb with ease.

She marveled at his agility despite the armor, she felt herself get warm again and she looked away, grabbing a sturdy ledge and pulling herself up. He's a human, she told herself, the story tellers told stories of humans eating children who strayed to far and those who killed the innocent. But yet here she was being saved several times by one and helped reach her clan, she countered herself.

There was also the one who had taken Rradal with him after they had discovered the Eluvian. What was his name, Dugan, Docnac, Duncan, yes that was it, Duncan, he had taken Rradal with him and turned him into a legendary Grey Warden. She had a crush on him when before he left, Rradal she meant, and she heard stories that he had slew the Archdemon and defeated the Darkspawn.

She had all been thinking about this while climbing and was still when she neared the top, Will having already made it there. She was about to reach the ledge, when the rock holding her foot gave way and she began to fall. Fear gripped her as she felt a sense of vertigo, but before she could fall too far back, an armored had grabbed hers and she looked up to see Reaper, Will, looking down at her, her small hands miniscule compared to his strong and powerful hands.

She looked down as she dangled in the air, him being the only thing between a fifty foot fall and safety, her other arm reached up and grabbed his wrist. He pulled her up without so much as a groan, turning and setting her down next to Himlum. She stumbled a bit when he set her down, he legs felt like jelly sap, wobbling and shaking from fear.

"You alright?" he asked her as she knelt down to ease herself.

"Yes, but can I please have minute?" he nodded and she thanked him, then again for saving her.

When she was ready they set out again, he had briefly scanned the landscape, the path did indeed lead to the town they were heading to.

"Where are we exactly, what planet?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Well that is an odd question. Well we are in the land called Ferelden, but right now we are in the Free Marshes, the main wooded part of Ferelden. There is another land to the north called Orlais, but I have never been there."

He simply nodded and Merrill fell silent. The sun eventually sank below the horizon and they trudged through the dark, she stopped and Will looked at her.

"We should set up camp, it is dark now and we'll need rest," she said, she was very tired from the constant walking and the fighting.

He shook his head, "I'm sorry Merrill but we should keep moving, the wound your friend here suffered is a little more severe than you may think. As good a fighter I am I'm no medic," he said and then he looked passed her into the dark of the woods. "And I think we're being followed," he added, finally expressing his feelings on the matter.

Merrill looked behind her cautiously, and then felt his hand on her shoulder, "Come on I bet I can see better than you in the dark, I'll lead the way, just stay close," he said.

She gladly took the offer, almost pressed against him she followed him as he led her through the dark woods, calling out obstacles and picking her up when necessary. She blushed and became warm every time he did, and she was glad the night covered her features because she was almost sure he would act differently if he caught her like this.

* * *

><p>Finally he stopped and she did with him, she saw his form in the dark, he bent over and set Himlum on the ground, she took up a stop next to him. She didn't know what to do, she never was separated into such a small group, she suggested they make a fire.<p>

"No that won't be a good idea. If we are being followed, or even if we aren't, it'll draw creatures and let enemies know of our position. Sorry but no, I'll go scan the area, stay here and cry out if someone or thing is near that isn't me, got it?" he told her.

She nodded, then realized that he probably couldn't see her, she opened her mouth to tell him, but he had indeed seen her for he moved off after putting a finger to her lips to silence her.

Several minutes later she heard a twig snap behind them, maybe it was Will, but why would he be behind them? "Will, is that you?" she called out, there was no response. "Will?" she asked again quietly seeing a shape come up in front of her, it wasn't till it was too late did she see the other figures.


	3. Chapter 3

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 3

Will trudged through the dark, thankfully his augmentations allowed him to see good in the dark. Of course his vision probably wasn't as good in the dark as a Spartan II's but he had never met one before, only heard of them from marines during missions.

He had circled the area and was heading back when he heard a woman's scream, Merrill, he burst into a sprint.

* * *

><p>"Silence the elf!" one of the men hissed at the other, she felt a hand cover her mouth and muffle her scream. "Bind her," the same voice said, she could barely see any of the figures in the dark around her, but she felt it when they grabbed her. They tied her hands and gagged her, throwing her to the ground when they were done.<p>

She could make out colored blobs moving in the dark, but couldn't make out anything definite, where was Will? She was pulled to her feet again and shoved forward, "Start walking, we got a while before we reach our destination."

She was shoved again but heard something like draw of a last breath followed by a thump as something hit the ground.

"What was that?" one of them asked, his voice edged with fear. And before any of them could answer, a blade of white energy popped out of the dark. She saw the faces around her now as the blade from Will's sword lit up their horrified features, he lunged.

* * *

><p>After a minute the blade disappeared and the darkness filled her vision again. She felt hands grab hers and cut her restraints, pulling the cloth out of her mouth after that.<p>

She felt Will's strong hands grab her arms as he crouched down and inspected her as she knelt on the ground. A moment later he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, are they all dead?" she asked.

"Yes," he responded and she nodded, trying to stand, her grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Glad we haven't run into any Covenant," he muttered to himself and she barely made out what he said.

They walked over to where Himlum lay and she crouched down, listening for a heart beat, it was there, weak, but there. Then she asked him, "What are the Covenant?" she asked and he sighed.

"Guessed that was gonna come up when I mentioned it," he said, oh no was she being rude again? He must have read her thoughts, "No you weren't being rude, they are a large empire of multiple species that came together and are… were trying to destroy the human race. I came here by accident, I was supposed to deliver a Forerunner artifact that I confiscated from Covenant hands and it must have messed up the Slip-space jump and I woke up crashing through atmosphere," he finished.

She took a moment to take all this in, it made so little sense to her, but before she could ask another question he grabbed Himlum and stood. "Come on, lets try to stay quiet to try not to attract any more attention," he said and she kept her questions to herself as they floated around in her head.

* * *

><p>The sun had finally risen when Will stopped again and set down Himlum, Merrill almost sighed with relief, finally a break from all this accursed walking. He remained standing however, walking over to a large rock and looking out.<p>

"Think I see your clan, they're a whiles out but we can meet them at the town," he said hopping down from the rock and looking at her for her reaction to the news.

She nodded, "Good," was all she could really say, at least they were making progress.

"Alright, you get some sleep, I'll wake you in two hours," he said and she nodded. She was very tired from the constant walking and this was the first break they had all night other than when they were ambushed. She set her staff down and found a comfortable spot on the grass and lay down, quickly drifting to sleep, dreaming about the knight that was her companion.

Will looked at her as she drifted to sleep, he turned and took up his spot atop the rock, looking out at the forest. He had very few memories from his childhood, considering he only had the ones from before he was six. He remembered his family had a small ranch on a world that was long glassed by the Covenant, it was so green like this.

He remembered his mother and another man who always smelled of the outdoors, he knew this man was not his father, but he had loved him like one. He remembered when he would take him hiking to a spot where you could look out and see green pines and leaves as far as your eye could see. This was that spot, he thought as he looked out at the land.

It had an added affect with the mountain and the smoke trails that showed Merrill's clan's location. He sat there for the two hours looking out with his thoughts.

* * *

><p>She was in the middle of a dream when she felt her arm being shook, "Come on, time up, we gotta get moving again, the smoke trails from your clans location stopped, their moving as well."<p>

She groaned and rubbed her eyes, stretching briefly as she looked around, and realized she was not with the clan. She frowned slightly and got her staff, walking over to Will as he dressed Himlum's wounds as best he could before setting out again.

For this he had to carry her too for the ground was steep and rocky, she climbed onto his back as he carried Himlum in his arms and set out down the slope. Sliding from down the slope and jumping from side to side as they made their way down.

Finally he pounded onto the ground at the base of the rock slide and she climbed off of his back, amazing how he could carry her and Himlum in his arms and still go on strong.

A long time later they reached a stream that had no visible way across and was too deep to try and walk across, the current too strong to swim. She looked around and felt her hopes falter, she looked at Will as he looked around, then set Himlum down and walked over to a small pine tree.

He set his footing and pushed with all his might against the tree, it groaned with him and began to splinter, before finally breaking and falling across the stream to make a bridge. She marveled at such strength, sure he had been able to carry Himlum for so long and her every now and then, but to push down an entire tree, that was incredible.

"You had better go across first," he said as he approached, "This armor I'm wearing is a bit heavier than you may think," he said and she nodded.

She walked up to the tree and stepped onto it cautiously, it was a rather thick tree, but she would not be getting help if she fell. She balanced herself with her arms and slowly walked across it, she almost slipped once or twice, but was able to regain her footing. When she hopped down on the other side, Will climbed up onto the tree.

He moved much faster than her across the tree, it was groaning and with each step he took. He finally jumped down on the other side and looked at the tree before turning to her, "Let's go," he said and she nodded.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until dark did they stop again, they set camp outside a small clearing, Merrill could see lights against the trees when she stood next to Will when he looked out. "We should reach the town by tomorrow, maybe even before your clan," he said and turned to her.<p>

"Do you think they would let me in without my clan?" she asked, she had been to very few towns before, the clan only sending scouts to trade supplies and buy some if truly necessary.

She could tell he was a little confused by this, "Why wouldn't they?"

"Because we're elves," she said gesturing to Himlum, "and we are also Dalish, we aren't necessarily liked by all the humans and other elves." Then mumbling a bit she said, "And elves in general are looked down upon already," and he looked at her.

"Well as you can tell I'm a little different," he said looking out at the city lights, she smiled, they had talked quite a bit about why he was different from other humans.

"If you're willing to take watch I think I'll get some sleep," he said looking down at her, she nodded and he did in turn. He hopped off the rock and sat down with his back against it, crossing his arms and legs and letting his head hang a little, she looked at him for a moment before sitting cross-legged on top the rock.

She decided to think about things in the mean time, she wondered if after the clan visited the town they would head to the mountain outside of the town of Kirkwall. She had heard the Keeper mention it several times and they had some business there, but she wasn't sure what that was.

Then she thought of the Eluvian, she had a shard sitting in her trunk before the clan had left, the Keeper didn't really approve of it, but she allowed her to keep it. She didn't know why the Keeper had despised it so, so it had the taint on it, and it also took Tamlen and Rradal from them, but she had cleansed it, which the Keeper had disapproved of also.

She sighed, why did the clan not like her so much, she tried to be nice to them. So she had used Blood magic, it hadn't hurt anyone, and she had cured the taint from the Eluvian, wait she already said that.

After a while she decided to practice a little and made a ball of light in her hands that she molded and moved. Eventually she felt her eyes began to get heavy and she climbed off the rock, not thinking as she set her head down on Will's chest, drifting to sleep under the stars.

* * *

><p>The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when Will awoke, he opened his eyes and coolly lifter his head, feeling pressure against his chest he looked down to see Merrill there alseep. Well he didn't blame her, she had been walking for a while with him and she was no Spartan, plus in the past two days she had only the two hours of sleep he had allowed her. He looked around and saw Himlum not more than a foot away lying next to him on his other side.<p>

Merrill had told him that her parents had given her to the Keeper of her clan as an honor to be her First, he was almost beginning to feel like a father figure to her despite the fact he was probably around her age. She groaned and shifted, squeezing her eyes as she dreamed of something, he smirked, well he would probably have to wake her anyway.

He moved his arms a little to uncross them and set one hand on her shoulder, "Hey Merrill, you ready to get moving again?" he asked and she blinked her eyes open, yawning and rubbing her eyes before realizing she was on his chest.

Her cheeks went red as a cherry, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-oh-I mean I … ohh," she said turning away from him and her set a hand on her shoulder.

"You know if you were tired you only needed to tell me that you were."

She looked at him dumbfounded, she must have expected him to be mad at her. He patted her shoulder and stood, "Come on we're almost there, if we move now we can get there by noon."

Merrill was utterly confused that he wasn't mad at her, he just brushed it off like it was nothing, could he, no Merrill he doesn't feel that way about you, does he? She snapped herself away from the thought and stood, they were almost to the town, and hopefully they'll be able to meet the clan there or vise versa.

She walked over where he inspected Himlum, it bothered her that her had been unconscious almost the entire journey. "Is he alright, he hasn't woken up in a while?"

He looked up at her as he crouched next to the sleeping boy, "He's in a coma right now, if we don't get him help soon he is going to die," he said with still no emotion. She had asked him why he always seemed to lack it, she had felt rude for asking but he hadn't minded. He said it was more or less in his training, whatever that had meant.

But the words filled her with dread, why hadn't the Keeper taught her more? "Will he be alright?" she asked urgently.

"We can hopefully make it to the town before it gets too late, but he's in pretty bad shape," he said, gently picking the boy up. She thought about how gentle he could be despite being as strong as a dragon.

"Come on we had better go now if we want to get there in time, no stopping this time," he said and Merrill nodded, she understood, and so they did at a faster pace this time.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until high noon did they reach the entrance to the town, the guards to busy gaping at Will to do anything to stop him as he ran into town with the boy in arms, Merrill doing her best to keep up with him. Her mail under her green tunic was beginning to get heavy and she was finding it troubling to keep up with him. Finally they found a healer and Merrill had brought Himlum in while Will stood outside. But he had refused to heal a Dalish elf, until Will walked in to persuade him otherwise.<p>

When he was done, Will carried Himlum outside and set him down on a bed outside the Chantry for the weak and ill. Finally the two of them sat down, and with a sigh Merrill smiled at him, then realized that throughout the whole journey, he had never seen his face.

"Would you… would it be alright if I saw your face?" she asked nervously, "I mean you have been wearing your helmet the entire time and never showed me it, your face I mean." She blushed, "and I'm babbling again."

He shrugged, "Never had much of a reason to take it off," he looked at her, "my helmet I mean," she realized he wasn't mocking her, but he had done it on purpose to try to show her he didn't mind. He reached up and took his helmet off with a hiss, she looked in awe at his face.

He had gorgeous blue eyes like the exotic shaggy dogs she had heard of in the north, he had black hair like hers and had a large scar going across his right cheek, but he looked so young and beautiful. She straightened suddenly and looked away, her face felt warm and she felt embarrassed at what she had just thought.

"Guess I'm that ugly huh?" he joked and put his helmet back on.

"Oh I didn't mean it like that," she said and cut herself off, looking away again, "you're quite… pretty," she said feeling embarrassed again.

He was a tad bit surprised at this himself, "Well I've been called quite a few things, but pretty is definitely a first," he said smiling and looking at her, she smiled too at the humor, as it may have been. "Well why don't we take a look around and you can insult my intelligence with what you know around here," he said getting up, grabbing her hand and pulling her up with ease.

"Well I don't want to…" she cut herself off again, "right sarcasm," she said going red again. He patted her shoulder and they set off around the market, the duo drawing many stares, a giant and a small fragile looking Dalish elf.

They visited several stands and shops, Will just watching and listening as Merrill explained things to him as she looked around, she had little coin but she still liked to look.

Eventually they caught word that the clan had set camp outside the town and Merrill and Will went back to the Chantry to see that Himlum was still out cold.

"Come on, we can get some of your clan to come and get him," Will said and Merrill nodded.

They exited the town and went to where the camp was, but Merrill completely forgot that the elves did not entirely like shemlen's, and Will was quite an intimidating person. The was the twang of a bow and Will caught the arrow with ease, covering Merrill with his back as three more arrows bounced off his shields.

Merrill went around him before he could stop her and shouted, "Wait stop it's me! He's a friend! We came to get help for Himlum, he is hurt badly!" she shouted into the woods and Will stood ready.

Another figure with pointed ears and leather armor came out of the woods for a better look, taking one cautious step at a time. "Merrill? What are you doing with this… shemlen?" he asked, the last word was full of confusion, not sure if Will was truly human.

"He saved my life and got me and Himlum here, but he is hurt badly, he is by the Chantry, please you must hurry?" she begged and the elf nodded, waving over his shoulder. Two more elves came out of the woods, watching the Spartan cautiously as they passed.

When they had they walked toward the camp, they stopped outside its limits, "Wait here, I'll ask the Keeper to allow you in," she said and Will nodded. She walked into the camp quickly trying to find the Keepers aravel as she went through the camp, finding it she walked in to see the Keeper setting up her things.

"Merrill, what a surprise, I figured you would meet us here, but not so soon," she said turning as Merrill walked in.

"Hello Keeper," she said bowing, "There is a human outside the camp that has saved both mine and Himlum's life, would it be alright if he enters?" she asked looking at the Keeper.

"Yes I would suppose so," she said, "I'll let a small group of guards escort you two here," she said and nodded to Farnell as he walked in.

The two of them, plus three other hunters, walked over to where she had left Will to find him surrounded by twelve hunters pointing bows at him, but he sat leaning against a tree with his arms and legs crossed. He pushed off the tree as he saw Merrill approaching, the hunters tensed, but he seemed unscathed, like he didn't even care.

"Put down your bows!" she said to them and they looked at her, "the Keeper said he could enter the camp," she said and several hunters gave her dirty looks. Just another reason for them to hate her, she thought.

Will nodded as the dozen hunters watched them as they entered the grounds, others stopped what they were doing to look at him, they often disliked humans in the camp, but this one was definintely the most intimidating. There had been few other humans that had entered the camp and they often seemed uncomfortable with the eyes of so many elves on them, but he seemed as calm as still water.

They walked to the Keepers aravel and entered, Farnell and his hunters staying outside. The Keeper welcomed them, "Hello child," she said then looked at Will, "You must be the human Merrill was talking about," she said.

"Yes ma'am," he said nodding.

"I am told you saved hers and Himlum's life in the woods," she said and Merrill nodded.

"Yes Keeper, Himlum and I were by the stream when we were attacked, he saved us both and helped us make it to the village." She said and the Keeper looked at the human.

"Interesting, and you did this out for your own gain?" the Keeper asked, Merrill was a bit confused as to why should ask that question, it seemed a little out of character, but then, she had never been around when she introduced humans.

"No ma'am, I was simply trying to help her get back to her people," he said coolly, looking down at the Keeper with his faceless helm.

"Well then I must admit that not many humans would do that without seeking some reward," she said and Will seemed to understand even if Merrill didn't. "In that case you are welcome here any time human, but do you have a name?"

"Spartan will do fine," he said and Merrill looked at him, maybe it was special he had told her his name.

The Keeper nodded, "Then it is an honor to have you with us Spartan, but I like to ask how long you plan on staying?" she asked.

He hesitated, then looked at Merrill, then the Keeper, "If it would be alright with you ma'am I would like to travel with your clan," a truly odd request.

"An odd request, but if that is what you wish then you may," she looked to Merrill, "Child if you would be so kind as to show the Spartan to a tent?" she asked and Merrill smiled.

"Gladly, thank you Keeper," she said and looked at Will, then asked, "Keeper, where are my things, I would like to pitch my tent?" she asked and the Keeper directed her to the trunk across the room.

The Spartan carried the trunk easily on his shoulder as he ducked through the door after Merrill, she led him through the camp till they reached an open spot, "This will do," she said.

He set down the truck and she opened it, she always carried a spare tent in case, but unfortunately it had been eaten by moths during the journey. She looked at the Spartan, reddening a little, "Um my spare tent is in ruins, um-I—ah think we'll need to share a tent," she said.

"That's fine," he said and she was a little surprised, the others often wished to avoid her, but then she thought, he isn't like the others though, she smiled.

He helped her pitch the tent and she set up the bedrolls, when they were done Merrill stepped out of the tent to see the hunters they met at the edge of the woods leading Himlum in. She dug through her trunk till she found a spare tunic and took it out, Will had already disappeared somewhere and she decided that she would wash in the spring not far from the camp.

She walked for a minute or two until she saw the spring, but she also saw Will's armor lying next to it, she looked around and didn't see him. She walked up to the spring and saw him by the spring on his knees, his upper half of his body exposed, the lower half still armored. She looked at him and marveled at him as he splashed water in his face and addressed a wound on his shoulder.

She had thought that most of his armor had made up for his bulky figure, but she realized he was just that _built_. She took a breath in and he instantly pulled the sliver thing on his thigh up and pointed it at her, she jumped.

"Oh Merrill, sorry, force of habit," he said putting the _pis-tol_ on his thigh again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," she said feeling embarrassed, taking a step back to walk back.

He shook his head, "It's alright, I don't mind, in the military there's no such thing as privacy anyway," he said, she didn't know what that meant but she stayed anyway.

She looked at the purple and red welt on his shoulder, "What happened?" she asked not remembering anytime he had even gotten hit there.

He looked at his shoulder and then back at her as she sat next to him and let her feet dangle in the spring. "I got this when I crashed, but it's nothing really, just a bruise."

"What about those," she said pointing to all the scars he had across his body, slashes covered his body with spots that looked like the skin had been pulled while others where it looked like the skin had been singed and burned, but no longer black.

He looked over himself, "This is war," he said looking at her as she looked at his face. "I am lucky these are only scars, in the war I fight people die almost every day, these wounds probably would have killed anyone else."

She looked about him, they had discussed while he was different, but she didn't think he had been through so much and still be so young. Her eyes found his and she looked deep into them to see the hurt and pain of a man fighting his whole life, but something else was there. She felt embarrassed and looked away, looking at her feet as they made ripples in the spring.

"I think I'll leave you be," she said and stood, her feet already beginning to get cold.

"If that's what you want," he said sitting straighter and closing his eyes, his hands falling onto his legs. She knew meditating when she saw it, she did it often enough, she really didn't want to leave, but she felt like she should.

She bit her lip and looked back at the camp, then set her spare tunic down and took up a spot beside him and closed her eyes, she decided to sit cross-legged instead but let her hands rest on her knees.

Will opened one of his eyes and looked at her as she drew in a deep breath, he smirked to himself and closed his eye again, maybe he could pry where they were going from her tomorrow. He could be stuck here for a while, maybe forever, and he cared about what happened to Earth, but as long as these people needed him, he'll stay if the Covenant came, they'd have to deal with him first. And he didn't plan on going out without a fight.


	4. Chapter 4

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 4

Bet'Karh sat at the helm of the ship as they made the jump through Slip-space. The hierarchs had given him the task of hunting down the demon that had stolen the Forerunner artifact and made off with it. The Prophets themselves gave him the shard of crystal that would allow him to travel after the demon, what they failed to tell him was that it could only be used once.

He found that out the hard way when they came out of Slip-space and their dropship shut down from an EMP blast. His crew was made up of Skirmishers, that was what the humans called them, though not as smart or strong as a Sangheli, they were faster, more agile, and smart enough as any. The remainder was made up of two engineers who were fighting for control with the other Sangheli aboard.

He was shouting commands to try to organize his crew, but the EMP blast had shut down all the important systems besides life support and other necessities. Before he knew it he was in the middle of an unknown land with half his crew dead, the ship was in ruin and the crystal had shattered when it had released the EMP blast.

And to add on their plasma weapons were basically useless other than the needlers and his sword. So he was not in the mood when the human savages ambushed them with even more primitive armor and weaponry than usual.

He growled a command and his Skirmishers quickly set to work killing the roaches with speed and agility. Dodging blows, pounding them with tooth and claw, some had gone to jumping off trees to grab heads as they flew passed humans, breaking necks as they spun. He caught a blade with his bare hands and roared in one of the human's faces, pulling out his wrist blade and shoving it in the humans face, it fell to its knees and he pushed it off the blade.

He popped out his other blade and charged down another human firing arrows at them, arrows! He tackled the human and rolled over him, jumping atop him and easily overpowering him as he punched the human and then split his chest open.

He scoffed and stepped off the human, looking around to see the last of his Skirmishers playing with the last one, running past him and clawing as they were much faster than him. finally his top lieutenant, Yar'Kaelesh jumped on him and bit into his skull with powerful jaws, quickly caving he humans skull in.

He flicked his wrists as he walked forward, the blades disappeared and his remaining dozen Skirmishers looked at him.

"What should we do with the ship Shipmaster?" Kaelesh asked him, his jaws dripping with the human's blood.

"A wise question," he said looking back at the ship as it burned, "Got aboard and grab any and all working gear you can carry, I shall set the self destruct to one hour after we are ready."

Kaelesh bowed and barked a command to his fellows and they scurried aboard, though they were not Sangheli he was glad to have them, it was better then Unggoy.

Kaelesh came out with the rest carrying nothing but needle rifles and what few needlers they had, they also had an experimental piece of equipment only Skirmishers could use called needle gauntlets. He brought a needle rifle up to Bet'Karh and handed him his energy sword, their three-fingered hands couldn't use them properly otherwise he would have gladly given him one.

He inspected Kaelesh's arm to see that he had one of the pieces of hardware on his arm, "Do they work properly," he asked the Kig-yar and he shrugged.

He clicked the gauntlet and aimed it, clenching his hand and twisting his wrist, a needle bolt shot out and hit a humans body. The purple needle stayed for a moment before detonating a little bigger than the usual needle rifle shot.

"Excellent, is this the only working device," he asked and Kaelesh nodded gravely, "A loss truly. Let us set out," he said and shouted a command, the remaining Kig-yar were fighting over scraps or watching got into line and came up to him. He activated the timer on the ship when they were a mile out.

An hour later the ship detonated, destroying all that remained of the crash with a silent explosion. The only sign was the bright light he saw from his vantage point, from which he also saw where the demon had crashed, his Skirmishers walking in single-file past him.

He felt the black spot on his mask that had been caused in the crash, it had melted the mask slightly when he woke he had found it lying next to a flame. It gave it a new look to it, it made Ultra armor even more intimidating, his remaining crew having given him nervous glances when he had put it on.

After another two hours they came across the crash of the demon and found no body, but they had found the crystal, with was also shattered and beyond repair, the ship also beyond flight ability. He stepped off the ship, the ones who had shields had them held defensively as they looked out into the woods, the others were waiting for him.

He looked to Kaelesh who broke off the defense group and came to him, "Are your forces ready to set out Kaelesh?"

"Yes Shipmaster, but what of the crystal?" he asked gesturing to his troops to form up.

He held it up in his hand for his lieutenant to see, "It is beyond repair, but if we can find a shuttle we can bring the remains to the prophets, but only after the demon has been slain."

Both he and Kaelesh had been trained to fly human shuttles for infiltration missions, usually coming in handy.

He bowed and they set off into the woods, eventually finding several bodies by a stream, Bet'Karh bent down and inspected one of the bodies. It had a clear needle wound in it, and from what he was told no other Covenant forces had been deployed to this planet yet, so why would the human kill his own?

He stood and looked over his troops as they went from corpse to corpse to make sure they were dead, he called Kaelesh. "How long have they been dead?" he asked the Skirmisher and he inspected the body, his head twitching from angle to angle to look at the wound. He quickly ripped off a chunk of flesh with his hand and tasted it; he always thought their species were jittery.

He spit out the meat and looked back at him, "About two days Shipmaster," he said.

"Then we have some catching up to do," he said and called over two in green armor, they were his best trackers besides Kaelesh. "I want you two and Kaelesh to lead us on the humans trail, the faster we find him the better," he said and one nodded, another was inspecting the dirt. "Deator!" he bellowed and the Kig-yar looked at him, "do you understand?" he was his best observer but that didn't excuse ignorance.

"Yes sir," his voice a hiss, "But the human is in company of two others, one wounded by the look of the tracks," Deator said and Karh bent down to see what the Skirmisher was talking about.

He gestured to two set of tracks and some trampled grass, "See there are three sets of tracks, but one disappears next to where some of the grass is crushed, I suggest the demon carried the wounded."

He picked up a tuff of black hair, "Can you tell who he was in company with?" better to know if it was indeed more than one demon.

Geatol stepped in, "By the looks of it one human female and tow males, one was a demon, the others were not," he said and Karh nodded, he stood and looked at the slowly rising sun.

"The sooner we set off after them the better. Lead the way," he said and Kaelesh, Geatol, and Deator set them on the right path, never discussing a flaw for too long when they found one.

Soon, Karh thought, soon they would have this human and be on their way, so was the Path.

* * *

><p>Will sat atop a ledge in his armor looking out over the forest, he had heard something that had awoken him in the night, and when he looked out he saw a faint smoke trail in the sky. He frowned, that could be anything, but his instincts told him otherwise.<p>

"What are you doing up there shemlen?" a voice called out below him and he looked down.

"Looking out over the forest," he said, he didn't see the point in lying.

"I'll be watching you shemlen," the voice called back and he saw the elf walk away in the darkness.

He sighed and climbed down, the sun was barely peeking out over the horizon and he had barely gotten that mush sleep. He didn't mind, they weren't going anywhere for another three days of what he pried out of Merrill. Apparently they were traveling to a place outside a large city called Kirkwall.

He quietly climbed into the tent and saw Merrill lying quietly on her bedroll, legs drawn up slightly as she slept on her side. He laid down on his bedroll beside hers, not bothering to climb in it. It was fairly warm out anyways and his armor was comfortable enough.

He set his hands behind his head and closed his eyes; it was a moment before he drifted to sleep.

* * *

><p>Merrill awoke and saw Will asleep besides her she sat up and walked outside, there was a mist over the ground, she stretched and took a big whiff of the air. It smelled different around the camp, burning wood, and the sounds of busy people. She decided to finally bathe having not getting the chance yesterday. She grabbed her tunic she had set atop her trunk and walked to the spring to find it empty.<p>

She looked around to make sure she had some privacy before stripping down and stepping in, taking in the warmth of it and sighing. She bathed for a while before hearing boyish giggling, she looked to the woods and saw two little boys, her arms shot up around her chest and she saw them make a dead sprint away from her, giggling all the way. She ran to the edge of the spring and climbed out, putting her clothing on and chasing after them.

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><p>Thomas and Frankie ran from the pool laughing, so they had peeped the elf girl, but who would stop them, no one in the town really liked the elves anyway. Thomas smiled at Frankie and they both ran head-first into something, he thought it was a tree, until he looked up.<p>

His face was fear stricken as he looked up at the faceless giant, who reached down and grabbed them both by the collars and lifted them off the ground with ease. They both panicked, yelling and swinging fists, then the giant began to walk, it was going to kill them and eat them, he knew it!

But when the elf girl came through the foliage and slowed to a stop, the giant dropped them on their rumps suddenly.

"I believe you two have something to tell this young lady," the giant spoke down at them in a voice that was calm and emotionless, but cool and demanding at the same time.

"We don't have to tell the elf girl anything," Thomas said and the giant turned to look down at him, he felt his blood run cold, he turned to look at the elf girl. Her hair was still wet and she had her arms crossed most likely because she was cold.

"She's waiting," the giant said.

"Sorry," Frankie muttered and Thomas shot hit a look, but he got one back from him.

He sneered, "I'm not going to apologize to an elf, and there's nothing you can do to make me," he said and the giant shrugged.

He looked to Frankie, "Beat it peeper," he said and Frankie looked at him one last time before getting up and running. He stood, and was forced down by the giant, "Where do you think you're going?" he said and Thomas fell on his rump again.

Thomas just looked at him, he looked at the elf girl and then he crossed his arms and didn't budge, "Alright then, have it your way," he said, and then he just vanished. Thomas looked at the spot where the giant had been standing a second before, then the elf girl, she looked just as confused.

He smiled and looked at the elf girl, "Hah, see stupid elf, not even the giant stands up for you," he said and turned, then ran into something that wasn't there. He felt with his hands and there was nothing there, he walked forward and then at the elf girl, but she just watched him.

He walked away and felt something slide across his arm and he looked to see nothing, then felt something push him to the ground, and a cold voice came from next to him and whispered in his ear, "Get out," it said.

He ran forward to run into nothing, he turned and headed toward the elf girl to see her walking toward the spring, maybe she'd help her! He ran forward screaming and she turned to look at him, he ran around her and hid behind her from whatever spirit was following him.

"I'm sorry elf girl, I'm sorry!" he yelled as the bushes by the clearing shook and parted for nothing, he could see something ripple the air where the bushes parted. "PLEASE HELP ME!" he shouted from behind the girl's legs and the giant was standing there looking at him where there been nothing a moment before.

The giant looked at him and his heart pounded, was it some sort of spirit, no it had grabbed him, but could spirits do that. "Go," was all it said, and it was all it needed to say before he dashed passed him, he looked over his shoulder to see it still watching him, he didn't stop till he reached home.

* * *

><p>Merrill looked at him, she thought he had abandoned her, "Sorry about that," he said walking off as she just watched him. He had told her that it wasn't magic and he didn't believe in magic, but how could one disappear and still be there?<p>

She followed him having no need to be by the spring anymore, they went back to the camp to see that nothing had changed. He looked at her at the edge of the camp, "Well I hope that taught them," he said and she smiled gently, she did too, she personally didn't like being spied on.

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><p>Bet'Karh looked at the fallen tree, inspecting where the tree had shattered at the base, it was the demon, there was no doubt about that. He looked at Kaelesh as the Kig-yar looked at the prints dug into the ground, they had been searching for a day now and had come across several other battle zones with dead humans.<p>

They had also killed several humans themselves, the ambushes despite their sizes never lasted long. Kaelesh nodded, confirming his suspicions, he stood and gestured across the stream, some of the faster and more agile troops jumped across successfully while the others quickly ran across.

He was the last across, but he did not mind, they were gaining on the demon, he could feel it in his bones.

He sensed something and looked at Kaelesh, who was sniffing the air and he nodded, they all were equipped with active camouflage, so they decided to put it to use. He activated his and slowly faded from view, his troops following not long after, and sure enough, after several minutes of staying still, several humans cautiously stepped out into the clearing.

He waited till he was sure all were exposed before decloaking with his hand held up, he closed his fist and pink crystals materialized out of thin air and imbedded themselves in the hopeless humans.

When there was nothing left of the failed ambush his troops ran forward and began to tear at the meat, only his top officers being obedient and staying by his side, but he allowed his troops some food, they had eaten nothing since they had set off and they deserved it.

They were quickly catching up to the demon and his companions, it was only a matter of time.

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><p><strong>AN: Hello again, i appreciate anyone who have made it this far into the story. Getting tense, i bet you guys saw this one coming, those who didn't will probably say they did, it's alright though ;). Do leave a review and tell me your thoughts it would be even more appreciated, thank you again and if you were possessed during the reading of this story awesome priest says "Beat it in the name of Jesus Christ!"<br>**


	5. Chapter 5

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 5

Will awoke to silence, but he sensed something was wrong, very wrong. He sat up and looked at Merrill as she slept, he shook her gently.

"Merrill, get up," he told her and she groaned and looked at him.

"Is it morning already?" she asked sitting up and looking around.

"No, but I think I might need your help with something," he said and got up, walking outside and waiting a moment before Merrill followed him.

The two of them crept through the camp until they reached the town, he knew something was wrong.

"Why do you need my help to go for a walk?" she asked rubbing her eyes and yawning, the sun was barely making an appearance in the sky.

"Something is wrong, I can feel it," he said, and after a moment he spotted something that confirmed the darkest of his fears, a pink crystal sticking out of wall down the street. "Merrill, whatever you do, stay close to me and attack anything that looks like it isn't there," he said and she looked obviously confused by what he had said, then the attack started.

A pink crystal materialized out of nowhere and Will pushed Merrill to the side as he drew his pistol and fired at the blur where it had come from. Purple blood splattered with each shot, a body of a Skirmisher appeared and it collapsed, bullet holes smoking in its torso.

Merrill sat up from the ground and looked at the creature, "Is that a dragon?" she asked, "It surely is an odd looking one," she said and he looked at her. He walked over to her and covered her, his pistol held up as she was still confused as to what was going on.

Will heard something and turned in time to see a Skirmisher jump from the shadows and try to attack him, several others also jumping out. He caught the one flying at him by the jaws and pulled them apart with a satisfying snap. He fired his pistol dry, two more dropped.

He grabbed Merrill and ran around a corner, needles chasing them as blue oval shields appeared out of the dark and illuminated their holders. He quickly counted them, he had dropped two minors, a major, and commando. There were still two more commando's in their green armor, three majors, and two champions, their shields making them obvious, he made them his first targets.

"Merrill, stay hidden and do whatever you can to stay safe," he told her before rushing around the corner, his knife in hand as he shoved it into a majors exposed throat. He pulled the knife out and sliced the one next to it, firing at one of the commandos and dropping him in three shots to the head.

He didn't hear the other commando sneaking up on him as it jumped out of cover from behind him, his mouth wide as it aimed for his throat. But as he turned he knew he wasn't going to be fast enough, then a green bolt of energy hit it clear in the shoulder and shot it off course, causing it to barrel into him.

He pushed it off and shot it in the neck, looking to see where the bolt came from to see Merrill standing there with a staff in hand, and both Champions running at her.

"Merrill move!" he shouted at her as he pulled out a frag and pulled the pin, rolling it across the ground, the Skirmishers stopped and looked at him as Merrill turned the corner again out of sight. The frag detonated and killed one who was next to it when it exploded, shrapnel tearing it apart, the others shields flared and died, he jumped on top of it and stood, before stomping it once in the face with a heavy boot, crushing its skull.

He saw elves coming out of the woods and firing at the remaining Skirmishers with arrows, but they were too fast, dodging them easily as they worked their way to the elves, then he heard Merrill scream and he turned to see a Champion in black armor tackle her. He ran at it, but it picked her up and ran off, it was much to fast for him, but he sprinted as hard as he could, keeping it in sight as he dogged it around corners, jumping over crates and bodies alike.

Finally he lost sight if it, but when he rounded the corner he saw Merrill lying in the middle of the open centre, not moving. He knew it was a trap, but he needed to make sure she was alright, his hand hovered over his sword, and his pistol was ready for the slightest sign of movement.

He cautiously made his way over to her, watching every other shadow every other second till he crouched next to her and felt her neck, there was a pulse, she was alive. He heard something behind him and turned, aiming his pistol as the elite decloaked and swatted the pistol out of his hand, punching him in the face and shouldering him into the air. He landed on his shoulder and rolled up, facing the elite as it looked at him, its blade sparking to life, white sparks bouncing off the cobblstone.

He stood slowly and pulled out his, snapping it on, white sparks glittered through the air and he held his sword out, it was a duel to the death.

"Tell me human, what is it to know defeat so often?" the elite asked him in their usual throaty voice.

"I don't know," he responded, "I haven't been defeated yet," he rushed forward and swung, it was countered, but he was already laying down another attack, followed by another as the two energy blades collided and repelled each other. They were both master swordsman, Will could tell, he was the top hand-to-hand fighter in his entire company, he was the only one who was skilled enough to wield an energy sword like a master.

He made a lunge forward and sliced when the elite dodged, but it lazily blocked it to the side and backhanded him across the mask. He stumbled at the force of it, it was a lazy blow, but elites were one to be bargained for when it came to strength.

He made a quick flurry with the sword and the two of them went at each other again, blocking and thrusting, flicking and swinging as the blades sparked against each other. After a rather brutal slash by the elite, Will blocked and backed away, he was breathing heavily, he heard Merrill groan and he glanced at her.

As if sensing the brief weakness, the elite took a step forward and twisted, his blade drawing back as he made a vicious uppercut. Will barely brought the blade up in time as he blocked it using the side and he went reeling.

He struggled to get up as the Ultra in black stepped over to Merrill and reached down, grabbing her hair and pulling her off the ground, she cried out and grabbed her head. He held her to his face as she struggled against his grasp, he dropped her to pick her up again by the throat and pull the blade back.

"No!" a Will cried and sprinted forward with a sudden burst of energy, grabbing the elites wrist with both hands and pushing it back turning it up slowly as the elite fought him. It finally let go of Merrill, throwing her to the side as it hit Will in the back and pulled him back, the blade now facing him. He turned in the nick of time, the blade hitting the wall behind him, it refused to leave its spot, Will punched the elite in the face, once, twice, before it grabbed his fist and threw it down, his foot kicking out and sending him flying.

He skidded to a halt and looked at it as it abandoned the blade and threw its arms down, two smaller blades coming from its wrists. He unsheathed his knife and spun it and held it like a dagger, his arm held out, he urged the elite forward, and it happily obliged.

Its large arm shot out, followed by the second as the elite began to pound the Spartan with attacks as he dodged and ducked, before finally getting an opening. He ducked under a right hook and slashed the elites hip, the shields flaring and giving way to the force of the blade as it bit into the elites leg.

Purple blood dripped from the blade and wound as the Spartan tried to make a slash at its back to be kicked away, he spun with the force, barely jumping back in time from a left hook.

And so it went on for another two minutes, the distant sound of battle as the Skirmishers made Hell for the hunters and townsfolk. Finally the elite had him, it slapped the blade out of his hand, it deactivated its left blade and grabbed his neck, walking him back into a wall. He pulled the other glowing wrist blade back, "Any last words demon?" it said.

Will saw something behind the elite, he smiled, "Yeah," he said, "Check your six," he spun out of the grab, breaking the elites wrist as he chopped it with his palm and twisted away from it. Before it could comprehend what had happened, a white blade protruded from its chest, Merrill holding the blades hilt in two hands, letting go and backing away as the elite turned. It took a step forward before falling to its knee.

Will walked up from behind it and pulled the blade out, the elite cried out and relied all its weight on its right arm. He raised the blade and brought it down, severing the elites head from its shoulders, the body collapsed, a smoking wound where the head was previously.

He tossed the blade to the ground and looked at Merrill as she looked at the body, fearing it would magically get up and attack them again.

"Good job Merrill," he said and she snapped out of her daze and looked at him, he but a hand on her shoulder as he passed, picking up all the weapons the elite had smacked out of his hands. She looked at him, no one had ever told her she had done good, she smiled joyfully.

They walked back to see that all the Skirmishers were dead, eleven lay on the ground around him, several with multiple arrows sticking out of them. As Will looked around them however, he could not see the black one, he looked at Merrill.

"What happened to the black one that carried you to the elite?" he asked her.

"The what?" she asked, she hadn't a clue what he was talking about.

"The creature that I dueled, what happened to the one that brought you to it?" he asked.

"Well I'm not sure, I remember being carried and then thrown onto the ground, next thing I knew I was being pulled by the hair," she said.

He looked around them, then back at the destruction the other ones had caused, the ones he had left had managed to kill off several other civilians and three elven hunters. He frowned, there was nothing he could do now though, none of his equipment worked properly around here, besides, even if the Skirmisher was stupid enough to attack it wouldn't last long.

* * *

><p>Kaelesh watched as the demon and pointed ear human walked away from his fallen brethren, crouching in the high branches of a tree as they walked into the woods. He had been busy trying to save his brothers when the Shipmaster was dueling the Spartan, he had only discovered the loss when he went to warn him that his brothers were falling.<p>

He would dog them for a time until the moment was right, then he would strike, that or fall to his fate, either was the Path. He jumped through the trees, barely making a sound as he followed the humans back to their camp. There were too many to strike now, so indeed he would have to wait, hopefully he would have his chance soon, but he could wait.

He watched as the duo walked into a cloth tent, he perched himself in the tree and looked at the white crystal in his hands. He had relieved it from the Shipmaster's body when he had found it, he jumped down from the tree silent as the Far-tor mice. He set a shard of the crystal in front of the tent, looking around to make sure he wasn't being watched before jumping back into the tree.

He watched silently for a while, when nothing happened he looked around and found a ledge to perch on better. Jumping up to it he curled up and closed his eyes, he soon drifted to a light sleep, staying alert for the slightest movement.

* * *

><p>Merrill sat up and looked around the tent, Will lay breathing quietly beside her asleep. She yawned and stood, walking out of the tent and slipping on something on the ground, falling on her bum. She stood and rubbed it, looking down on what she had tripped on to see a small white crystal she had never seen before.<p>

She examined it a bit more closely, she heard movement and looked up to see Will looking at her, his look shifted to the crystal, he stiffened. He drew his silver weapon and looked around, why was he acting so strangely, it was just a crystal?

"What is it, is something there?" she asked him, looking around and seeing nothing.

He took another moment to look around before putting the weapon back on his thigh. "Hopefully not, where did you find that?" he asked.

"Why it was right outside the tent, I tripped over it when I walked outside," she responded.

"Mind if I have a look?" he asked and she handed it to him, he inspected it, turning it over in his hand, tossing it a little in the air and catching it. "This is the crystal I had with me when I crashed, well a fragment at least, I don't think I want to know how it ended up in front of your tent if it's supposed to be two days away." He clutched it in his hand and looked around one more time before handing it back to her, "You can hold onto it if you like," he said and she lit up, it was a beautiful crystal after all.

"Thank you," she said, putting it in a pouch on her tunic.

"We're leaving today aren't we?" he asked.

"I believe so, I have never really been outside Ferelden before, but I believe we are going to a place called Sundermount." He nodded and walked over into the woods, she grabbed her staff and followed him, lately he had been helping her with odd jobs and such, occasionally watching her when she practiced.

They began to gather logs for the fires, he was carrying a large pile on his shoulder and under his arm when they returned, she had only a small stack in her arms. Master Ilen watched in slight amazement as the Spartan set the piles down in the wood pile next to his aravel.

"I could not think a shemlen could be so strong," he said and Merrill shrugged after she had put down her pile.

"He's very different from the others," she said and Master Ilen slowly turned to her.

"Yeah he's not the only one," he muttered and walked off, Merrill drooped her shoulders and looked down sadly, why did they all hate her so much?

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Will, he patted her shoulder and walked to their tent to help take it down, the rest of the clan were starting to pack up as well. At least one person cared for her, she thought, walking over to the tent and helping take it down.

"Why do they treat you like that Merrill?" Will asked as she watched him pack the tent away.

She looked down, "I'm different from the rest of them, I…I don't want you to hate me too," she said feeling selfish.

"Where I come from I'm not treated as well as you may think either," he said and she looked at him baffled.

"Well I don't know who would even try to offend you with how large you are, I mean in strength," she said surprised.

He shrugged, "I was taken from my parents when I was six years old to train to be what I am now. I have augmented bones and strength, I could tell you how best to kill a coyote from 100 yards away... And I can tell you that right now you're feeling sad, lonely, that you don't belong, yet you want to fit in." She looked up at him surprised.

"How did you…"

"I can read any person like a book, when it comes to people they where their pages on the outside, it's all a matter of how you read those pages," he said.

She looked at a leaf as it fluttered down into her hand, she looked up at the oak above her. "So, will you hate me if I tell you?" she asked.

"No," he said and she looked at him again.

She hesitated none-the-less, biting her lip as she thought of what best to say, "I practiced blood magic, but it was only once, to cure the taint from the Eluvian, which is supposed to be dangerous also," she spat out, looking to the ground one more time.

He remained silent, he hated her now, she knew it. She felt hands on her shoulders and looked up slightly to see Will's unmasked face, the helmet lying in the dirt next to his feet as he crouched down to her eye level.

"I really don't care Merrill, I have no idea what blood magic is, judging from the sound of it it's bad," he said. "But that doesn't give me any reason to hate you," he said, "I think you think people hate you because they don't understand you. How about when we set off you can tell me about everything on or way to Sundermount?" he said.

"I'd like that," she said smiling, he smiled too, it was a beautiful white smile, she hadn't thought he could, but here he was smiling for her.

And so they set off that afternoon, their hidden follower staying to the trees and shadows, Merrill chatting with Will as the horses pulled the aravels. They had a long journey, but Merrill was glad that Will was accompanying them, she finally felt like she belonged somewhere.

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><p><strong>AN: Hello again. I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Please leave a review and tell me how i am doing, also i would like you guys to tell me through PM or review whether you think Hawke should be a guy or a girl. anyway i think i will be off, expect an update soon and so long!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 6

Merrill sat up and looked around the tent, Will lay on the bedroll next to her like usual, a small film of dew formed on his mask. She scooted over and turned her head so she was looking down at him. She reached out with her hand and drew a smiley face on the mask with her finger.

She stepped outside and stretched, she walked over to one of the fires outside their tent, the area around it repelling the fog that hovered over the ground around them. She sat on a log that served as their seats and looked into the crackling flame. After a minute she heard others sit down by it also, some talking, others staying quiet, all avoiding her and not sitting by her.

She heard something rustling behind her and turned and saw nothing but a few leaves drifting down from the tree. They had been traveling for some time now, at least a month, they were getting closer to Sundermount, but they were still a long time away.

She looked up into the tree that the leaves had originated from and saw a black shadow dart through them for an instant and then it was gone, she frowned. The trees seemed uneasy around them when they made camp, like something was there that shouldn't be.

She stood and walked over to the tree, looking up into the leaves as she set a hand on it and rounded it a little. She heard something and rounded the tree a little more and gasped, a creature covered in black sat there over a dead dear, digging into it. It had purple crystals protruding from its right arm, it had black and grey feathers coming out of the back of its head and she saw a black mask with multiple yellow glowing eyes.

She covered her mouth and it turned to look at her, but it just looked at her, not moving. She remained still, her heart in her throat, its jaws were dripping red blood as it had a small chunk of flesh hanging from its mouth, it sucked it in and swallowed.

"Um, hello," she said after removing her hands from her mouth, it cocked its head to one side and took a cautious step forward, she took one in the opposite direction.

She heard a chirping sound coming from it, its large red neck moving like a frog slightly. "Are you…are you friendly?" she asked and it looked skittish, moving its head about this way and that with jerky movements as it walked closer and circled her, looking at her up and down, she tensed and remained still, only moving her head to look at it.

Finally she held her hand out and it hissed, baring large sharp teeth, she jumped back and it jumped into the trees in one leap, disappearing among the leaves.

She looked up into the leaves, taking a step forward as she looked around, she heard a voice behind her, "Talking to your demons again Merrill," it said in a disgusted tone.

She looked at one of the hunters that had hated her the most, Jegoron, he stood with his arms crossed, she hung her head. "It wasn't a demon, at least I don't think it was," she said and he scoffed, spitting at her shoeless feet and walking away.

She felt crying, she sniffed and heard something rustle behind her, she turned and saw the creature hanging upside down from the leaves, it cocked its head to one side. She felt angry as well as sad now, "Why did you have to hide?" she asked it, "What are you anyway?"

It just looked at her with those glowing yellow eyes, it chirped and dropped from the tree and landing on its feet with graceful ease, walking up to her with its head forward like an alert hound. It circled her one more time as she watched it, she was still a little angry, but this thing looked dangerous. She walked over to the deer slowly, it stopped and watched her intently, she knelt down and grabbed a chunk of meat from the dead animal, she held it out to the creature and it slowly walked forward.

She let her anger give way to fascination as it hesitated, its three fingered hand shooting out and grabbing the meat as it jumped back. She remained where she was and it looked at her before eating the chunk in one bite. Merrill stood and it looked at her before hearing something behind it and jumping into the tree, "Wait," she called out to it.

She was still looking into the tree when the Keeper walked around the tree, "Greetings da'len, who are you talking to?" she asked looking into the trees with her.

"Hello Keeper, I don't know, it looked like a dragon, but not like one I've ever seen," she said and looked at the elderly elf.

"Well I'm sure it won't cause too much trouble," she said before walking forward a little, "Are you ready to start your lesson?" she asked and Merrill nodded, she followed the Keeper. She looked into the tree one last time to see the yellow eyes looking at her in the dark of the leaves, she shivered and followed the Keeper.

* * *

><p>Will awoke to a slightly blurred visor, with a smiley face drawn in it, he sighed, Merrill. He sat up and grabbed a cloth from atop the trunk and rubbed his visor clear, he stood and walked out. Well at least he knew for sure his armor wasn't working right otherwise the dew wouldn't have been there.<p>

His armor was working as good as he needed it too, but it wasn't working the way it should, his shields remained a quarter of the way drained, barely charging since his encounter with the elite, and that was a month ago. He decided to help Ilen with his smithing today, everyone helped one another around here and he found that he belonged most at the smithy and with the hunters.

He walked over to the aravel where Ilen had made shop and ducked into the warm room to see him already hammering a blade. He looked up from his work, "Ah Spartan, I could use a set of strong hands, would you mind beating the blade for me, I need to run into the village here and grab new supplies."

Will nodded and took up his work in front of the anvil, pounding it with the right amount of force, each blow measured and using just the right amount of strength. After he finished he put the glowing blade in the water and it steamed and hissed, he took it out and set it out to dry. He stepped outside and decided he would find Merrill, he walked around the camp a little before finding her practicing with the Keeper.

He took a spot against a tree and watched, he had helped her with stances and how to concentrate, and slowly she had improved. He watched as the she and the Keeper practiced Merrill's lesson, she smiled when she saw him but remained focused and doing what she needed to.

When they were done she walked toward him and he stood, she smiled a big smile and he nodded, he had told her before she was getting better but she apparently hadn't believed him till now.

They walked around camp a little, "I think I saw a dragon this morning," she said and he looked down at her. She looked up at him, "I did, it had black feathers and a small snout and it had these glowing yellow eyes," she said and he raised an eyebrow. She had quite an imagination he knew, but for some reason he felt a little suspicious, he couldn't put his finger on why.

"Sounds interesting," he said, he also didn't really believe that there were also dragons, but the fact that his companion here was a magical elf he could digress. They walked into the town the clan had stopped by and looked around, they had a little more coin than when they had set out but Merrill didn't plan on spending any. Will walked and talked with her, they just chatted about things in general really, eventually stopping off at a forge to browse the multiple weapons.

He was fascinated at the shape of the blades as well how balanced they were when he picked them up. He found a greatsword that was particularly interesting, he picked it up in one hand and turned it in his hand, he tossed it in the air and caught it again. The smith saw this and his eyes grew as big as plates as he saw Will wield it in one hand with such ease.

"How can you wield such a blade like that?" he asked and Will set it down.

"My apologies I was just admiring the craftsmanship of it," he said his voice plain as a rock.

Merrill looked between the two of them, she had once carried a greatsword across the camp for master Ilen, they were indeed very heavy, but she had grown used to Will's strength.

"I mean how you can wield the heaviest blade in my shop with only one hand and use it like it was only a dagger!" he said.

Will shrugged, well how else would he respond, he was a super soilder who could flip over a car with his bare hands, who would believe him, Merrill sure as heck didn't when he told her that.

"Comes naturally I guess."

And so the smith marveled at Will's strength for several more minutes before allowing them to leave. They decided to head back to the camp, when they arrived everyone was beginning to pack up for the journey ahead, they walked over to their tent and took it down.

Merrill was rolling up her bedroll when she felt something in it, she frowned and reached into it, feeling for it till her hand felt something hard, she grabbed it and pulled her arm out. It was another crystal, same as the other, only this one was a little larger than the other, she showed it to Will and he took it.

"This is part of the same crystal alright," he said, looking around and tossing it to her, she fumbled with it but caught it before it hit the ground.

She opened her hand and looked at it a bit more closely, reaching into her trunk and grabbing the other, she put them next to each other and they glowed slightly before dying. Merrill's head cocked back a little, she put them together again and they glowed briefly again. She pulled them apart and looked at the shape of them, her head cocked to the side slightly, "They look like dragon scales," she said aloud.

Will looked up at her from the trunk as he put the tent away, "Well the crystal when it was in one piece had ones around that size going around it in the same pattern," he said.

She shrugged, maybe it just gave them more character, she put them in her fur pouch on her hip and stood up, helping him with the bedrolls.

* * *

><p>Kaelesh watched the two humans as they worked, he sat in the tree with one leg hanging loosely, swinging back and forth a little. He had put the crystal in the small woman's bedroll, but it was for the same reason he had with the other, though the cause was lost in his mind now. He had not killed the small woman for the fear the Demon would hunt him down with the others, but also because she had not attacked either, nor had she run.<p>

He had wondered if was just child's foolishness, but she had reacted differently from the other human children who thought they could best him. He also wondered why their ears were pointed instead of round like so many others he had seen. She seemed as curious as he when he had circled her, then she had offered him food from his kill, which was also interesting.

He fiddled with his needle gauntlet as he sat watching the large group pack up, tugging at the needles, checking to make sure it still fit properly. His active camouflage had died two weeks into the journey, though he had only used it on rare occasions, his helmet also failing a mere week ago, he had seen the demon's equipment not working properly either, so maybe it was the land.

He was thankful that his holopad worked however, he could not come in contact with any other Covenant force, but it allowed him to take his mind off of things. He usually read about the Gods, his race had few who accepted the Covenant's beliefs openly, but he was one of the few.

He decided now was not a good time to pull it out however as busy as the humans may have been, instead he watched. After another hour the humans packed up and he stood on his branch, jumping through the trees without a sound. He unintentionally landed above the leader of the groups small house and the branch gave way, he flattened himself against it as he landed.

He gripped the roof of it tightly, peeking over with one eye to see the demon and small girl talking in the human language, he leaned back and clutched it tighter, his claws making marks in the wood.

He set his chin flat and looked ahead, the carts were beginning to move, he looked back and thanked the Gods that none of the other humans had seen him. He let his chin rest flat on the roof again and looked out. Well he didn't know if he could carry out the rest of his mission, and he didn't think the Prophets would send more help.

He did not know what he was going to do, but he decided to remain hidden, he did not like the idea of death, but he feared he would have to welcome it with open arms soon enough. The cart jarred as the four legged beasts began to pull and the cart moved with them, he sighed quietly through his snout and lay still, he was at Fate's doorstep, he did not know what was in store for him, but then who does.


	7. Chapter 7

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 7

Kaelesh shot under the cart as it passed, grabbing the floorboards and holding on tightly. They had approached a large mountain outside a city and it was no longer safe to ride the roof of the front cart, there were also far less trees around to hide in.

The armor though malfunctioning still did its job in repelling the rocks and dirt and grime that was kicked up from the wheels and four legged beasts. He had cleaned his armor on several occasions when it had gotten fairly bad, he knew after they stopped he would need to today as well.

He had learned many things around these humans, they behaved much differently than others he had seen and not because they were far less primitive, though that had something to do with it. They were called _elves_, which he assumed were like how his species were similar to the other Kig-yar cousins, or the jackals as the humans called them.

He had been forced to silence several of them on the journey, making them look like hunting accidents, he was trained well in making things look like they were such. He only used his gauntlet when he hunted, such as the demon used his pistol in dire need, or confiscated needle rifle when also hunting.

He had also learned a great deal of the human language from the elf girl and demon when they talked, as a result he learned much of the land he was in. They had left a land called Ferelden and were currently climbing their destination now. He doubted that he was going to be leaving this planet and so he had accepted his fate, but he still decided to remain hidden, why get yourself killed without cause?

He heard the elves talking above him, though not the demon and girl he still listened.

"I don't see why the Keeper keeps them both, one is a shemlen and the other is a risk to the whole clan," a male voice said. He had figured out that shemlen was what the elves referred to humans as, similar to how his race referred to the 'jackals' as Kij-tal.

"The only reason why Keeper Marathari keeps Merrill around is because she is her First and the shemlen because he is so different," a voice responded. So they were referring to the girl and the demon, he listened a bit closer over the gravel and rocks.

He saw a small foot dangle in the front, a smaller voice that indicated a child spoke, "I think the shemlen is nice," a girl said.

One of them scoffed, "Did you ever see him hunt?" the first voice said.

And so the conversation went on, Kaelesh listened none the less however. Finally the caravan stopped and Kaelesh shot from the bottom of the cart to the nearest bush, sliding to a halt as he clawed into the dirt to slow himself as he turned. The child had seen him, she stood staring with wide eyes at where he had ran into the bush and cried out when she saw his yellow optics.

The two elves who had been talking turned and the girl told her what she had saw, pointing to the bush, they looked at each other, one pulled out a sword and the other a bow. _Ritor,_ he cursed his poor fortune and prepared himself, quickly thinking of ways he could exterminate silently them if he was spotted.

The one with the sword prodded the bush with it and Kaelsh silently dodged them the best he could, the elf finally lashed out with a foot and it caught him off guard, scraping his arm. The elves eyes narrowed as he felt the armor on his Kaelesh's arm, curse the Gods for such poor fortune, he thought.

The elf brought the sword up and Kaelesh prepared to strike when someone called the elf and his fellow, the elf tensed, looking back he relaxed his arm, Kaelesh let out a silent sigh of relief. Suddenly without warning the elf brought the sword down and Kaelsh stumbled back as the blade bit into the dirt and roots, he finally brought the blade out and walked away.

They scolded the small child and she looked at them with sad eyes, looking at the bush again before walking off. Kaelesh finally allowed himself time to breath, observing the place where the caravan would be staying for the next cycle at least.

They were in a small clearing, a road leading up higher into the mountain, another led further down the road they had followed, while the other led to the city he had heard about and was also the way they had come. The clearing in its own had no trees, few bushes, and it was circled by a small hill and the sheer mountain face.

He watched from above the hill, it had enough trees and bushes to allow him to hide long enough. He crouched low and crawled over to where he could see the demon and the elf girl unpacked their things, thankfully on the other side of the clearing by the mountain face.

He let himself relax and rolled over to his back, setting his hands on his chest he allowed himself some sleep, he would find a water source hopefully when he awoke, he was parched and needed to clean his armor. He slept soundly, not making a sound.

* * *

><p>Merrill set her trunk down while Will got wood for a fire, taking several large logs and placing them in the center of the clearing, taking out a flint and striking it, the fire lit the seasoned wood right away. He walked over to her and helped her with the trunk, she chose the spot and he set it down there, taking out the tarp and other assets for the tent.<p>

When it was finally erected they stepped back and looked at the large mountain face, "My ancestors were not thinking clearly when they decided to build a shrine on a mountain," Merrill said and Will had to agree, though it had a nice look from high enough.

"Well let's hope we can find enough food and water around here, I'll be going out with the hunting party to scout the area if you're alright with being here by yourself," he said.

She nodded, she knew the hunting party didn't like having him around, he did too most likely, but he never minded, and they didn't want to find out what he was like angry.

After an hour and a half the party set out, Will standing out as he towered over them, she waved and then sat down cross-legged on a blanket she had set down by the fire she had made. She took out the two crystals and put them together and they glowed a little for a moment or two before fading again. She often took them out when she was alone, she did not know why they fascinated her so but they were pretty and often kept her busy.

She set them down however and looked at the flame, she decided to practice a little on it. She squinted her eyes as she looked into the fire, after a moment it bust up a little and she jumped back a little, "Oh dear," she said as the flame settled again.

She looked around to see that everyone else was still going about their business, she relaxed a little and decided to meditate. She sat there for a while, but she just couldn't clear her head, she opened her eyes with a frown on her face. She thought about the bird-dragon she had saw all that time ago, it still fascinated her even now, she wondered why she hadn't heard of those before.

She decided to read, walking over to her trunk and grabbing a large volume from it, she sat down by the fire again and opened the book. She rested her chin in her palm and looked down at the book as she was warmed by the flame.

After a time beyond count she sat up and stretched her sore back, closing the large volume and setting it back in her trunk. She finally sat down again, bored with nothing to do, resting her cheek on her fist and letting the air flow between her lips, causing them to flutter.

She sat up and joyfully snapped her fingers, she grabbed a blank booklet and a feather and ink, she sat down again and thought. She had seen Will draw when he was doing nothing in his free time, he was pretty good. She had asked him to draw her and he did, it was a beautiful picture that she compared to her reflection once and marveled the similarity.

She had never tried it before so she thought of what he had told her, "A good drawing will probably take a long time to draw, but it will always be a masterpiece in someone's eyes no matter who drew it or how well they did," he had told her. She thought of what to draw, then thought of the bird-dragon and decided to draw it.

She was nearly done with it when the hunting party had returned, she heard a commotion and looked up to see Will with three dears over his shoulder as he carried them into camp. She set the drawing to the side and got up, walking over to where he set them down gently by the hunters aravel, by the looks on the other hunters faces Will had gotten all the kills but still gave it to them.

Merrill walked with him back to their tent and he glanced at the drawing, stopping in mid-stride and taking a closer look. She had only drawn the head of it like he had drawn the head of a doe for her once, he looked at it, "Is the dragon you're always talking about?" he asked.

"Why yes it is, it is the first time I decided to draw anything so I don't know if it was good," she said rubbing the back of her neck.

He looked at it for a time, "Yes it is very well drawn, I think you should finish it," he said and she felt elated, she only grinned despite her emotion, her lips remaining together.

"Thank you," she said and he nodded, walking into the tent and setting his stuff down. He looked at her through the opening of the tent as she sat down and began again, remaining intent on it. Now he knew why it had bothered him when she talked about it, she had seen the Skirmisher that had gotten away, and considering she saw it a month after the attack it was most likely tailing them.

What he was interested in was why it did not attack her upon seeing her, he glanced at the red flower that sat in a jar next to his bedroll. Maybe she was just that good natured, he thought, no that thing must have thought she was human, he would have thought so too if it weren't for the ears.

He picked up the vase and looked at the flower, she had picked it for him on the side of the road when they had stopped, he had found a vase and filled it with the water of a pond they had passed. He looked at her again as she furiously scribbled on the sheet of parchment, he did think it was very well drawn, in fact it was almost an exact image of a champion class, except it was black instead of orange.

He remembered explaining how the Covenant relied on colors to tell each others ranks apart. "Why do they use colors? Is it because they like rainbows? Or do you think it was because they didn't want to seem dull?" was how she had reacted when he first told her. Personally he never really cared why they used colors but it helped him pick out which ones to kill first, so he could honestly care less.

Back to the matter at hand however, he didn't doubt that the Skirmisher had followed them, but it hadn't attacked neither the clan nor Merrill when she had seen it. Though he was now suspicious about all those hunting "accidents," they were very well played if they were indeed not accidents.

He stepped outside the tent and sat down next to the fire and Merrill, she looked up and smiled before returning to her drawing. He saw the two crystal shards lying next to her, he reached over and grabbed them, looking at them in wonder, so had the Skirmisher really just dropped them for them to find? He wondered if it was playing him into doing something with the shards, he had faced few Skirmishers before but he knew how cunning they could be.

He tapped Merrill and gave the shards to her, she thanked him and put them in her pouch. Of what they had talked about, they could be there for some time, though she said the Keeper never told her.

After a moment of silence he spoke, "So do you think anyone from the city will come up?" he asked, as much as he liked the company of the clan he had barely interacted with any human for some time.

She looked up and thought, "I'm not entirely sure actually. I don't know if they'd be willing to climb the mountain just to see us," she said and he shrugged, she had a point.

She had a look of longing on her face as she thought about it, "Merrill?"

"Yes."

"Do you want people to come up here?" he asked her.

She hesitated, thinking about it, "I don't know, I don't like it here, no one likes me, but I don't know what it would be like elsewhere," she said.

He decided to choose his words carefully, she could be fragile at times, "Do you want to go with them if humans do indeed come up here?" he asked and she looked into the fire, thinking, his gaze also shifting to the fire.

"I don't know, maybe, I would have to talk to the Keeper, but do you think they'd take me anyway?" she asked looking at him.

"Well I think if they didn't then they hadn't gotten the chance to know you," he said looking away from the flame to see she had a sad smile on her face. He heard some commotion behind him and Merrill frowned as she looked over his shoulder. He turned and saw the hunters drag a man into the camp, he was human but his clothing was tattered and frayed, dirty and torn.

He stood and walked over to where the hunters were arguing, the two carrying the man set him down against the wheel of an aravel.

"No we already have one too many shemlens as it is," the hunter Jegoron said waving his arm.

"What's going on here?" Will asked butting in, the hunters looked at him.

"This is none of your business shem," Jegoron said pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Isn't it? You bring another human into camp who can't even stand on his own and it's none of my business? What if you were in a human camp and they brought in an elf in the same condition and said it was none of your business?" he said in his usual calm tone.

Merrill noticed Jegoron back down, she was just amazed at all the talents he had, she bet he could talk a noble out of his last coin if he really wanted, though she knew he wasn't like that.

The hunter who brought the human in intervened, "We found him in the woods outside the camp complaining about a monster."

Will looked at the man and the elf stepped out of the way, he nodded, walking over to where the man looked around, he crouched down next to him, Merrill watched. "What did you see?" he asked the man and he looked from the sky to Will's blank mask.

"It was a demon I tell you," the man said, his voice was coarse, Will waved over a skin of water, the man drank like he hadn't in weeks. "It was by the waterfall, it was black as the night sky and had evil yellow eyes, and a grey dog skull for a head, darkness flowing from the back of its head."

Merrill tried to imagine such a creature, she shivered at the thought, it reminded her of a demon, but not one she'd ever seen. Will did not seem so convinced however, "Where is this waterfall?" he asked the man pointed in the direction of the darkest part of the woods where not even the light if the sun seemed to penetrate it.

"There," the man said as his shaking hand fell, "It is in there, a mile into the wood, there is a clearing that has a small pool," he said. He reached forward and grabbed the Spartan with shaking hands. "But be warned, dark things are in those woods," he said, then he began to convulse as his mouth foamed and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, he collapsed.

"Get a healer!" Will said turning to look at the elves, only one moved, that one was a younger elf that had joined them along the journey, Merrill walking forward and tried to help.

She put a hand to the mans head, he was burning, she opened his mouth and looked inside to see that he had bad teeth and black spots along his mouth. She wiped her hands, she ripped the shirt open and they all gasped, he had a large black spot on his chest as well as a piece of purple crystal lodged in a wound.

The healer came with the younger elf and Merrill moved aside, telling her what she had found, after a minute he was pronounced dead. Will reached down and grabbed the shard from the wound, the healer closing the mans eyes as Merrill watched as he looked at the crystal.

He closed it tightly in his hand and walked off, Merrill stood and chased after him him, she caught up to him, "What is it?" she asked trying to get a look at it.

"Your friend from the woods," he said bitterly and she stopped in her tracks, watching him as he ducked into the tent and come back out with his purple weapon. "I'm not letting another person die if I can stop it," he said walking past her. She watched him for a moment before biting her lip and looking back at the drawing she hadn't finished before turning and running after him.

* * *

><p>Kaelesh heard the human coming, he leaned against the tree and sighed, he had sustained an injury from a human he saw. He covered the wound with leaves he had found and applied pressure, he turned and saw the demon look around the trunk and seem surprised when the Skirmisher was just sitting there looking up at him.<p>

The demon instinctfully raised his weapon and pointed it at Kaelesh, he turned to look at the waterfall, waiting for the shot that never came. He looked back at the human to see it had lowered its weapon and watched him, the elf girl coming up panting beside him, leaning on her knees as she looked at the demon, gasping when she saw Kaelesh.

She reached down but the demon held out a hand, he crouched down and the elf girl remained standing. "Where did you come from?" he asked, though Kaelesh could understand the human language he could not speak it.

He held out the white crystal sitting in his hand, the human looked at it, he lowered it again and looked up at the night sky. "What happened to Reach?" the human asked, the Skirmisher looked at him, he did not know what planet he was referring to, but he got out his holopad having received a transmission on it before they set off.

He tapped in several commands and a box with a straight line appeared, it moved with the sound as the transmission played, "This is Admiral Hackett sending out a distress call to all UNSC forces, Reach had fallen. Move all forces to defend Earth, may God have mercy on us." The transmission stopped and the holopad fell from his hands as he felt his strength begin to fail him.

The Demon stood and walked away, the elf girl looking at him as he walked off, she looked down to see Kaelesh looking up at her. He let his head hang and he felt even weaker from the blood loss in his leg, his eyes growing heavy as he lost feeling, only cold. His breathing grew heavy with his eyes as he felt the ground fall away from him, he drifted off and welcomed the darkness with open arms.


	8. Chapter 8

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 8

Will punched the tree and it shattered upon impact, splinters flying as a large chunk of it went flying. He put his back to the tree and his head in his hands and slid down the tree, he had failed, Reach had fallen, Earth was next if it hadn't already, and he couldn't do a damned thing about it.

It was a moment before Merrill appeared around a tree, "Will?" she asked cautiously.

"What Merrill?" he asked, his voice full of anger, "I failed, I was supposed to try and save Earth and here I am in a land I know nothing about. Full of elves and magic and dragons, and now Reach has fallen, Earth probably a flaming ball of glass by now," he said, he had told her about how the Covenant glassed worlds, she looked hurt.

He realized how he was letting his emotions get to him, how he was making her feel. "I'm sorry Merrill," he said feeling ashamed for letting his emotions get the best of him, "It's just you have a clan, you have a family. My family was my squad when I was taken from my parents and I got them killed too, Earth was all I had left, one last goal, one last right for all the wrongs. And now it's gone," he said.

She looked at him, she had seen this man so strong for so long, now he seemed like a lost cub, but then, what was she, what would she be if he hadn't shown up. "I feel like I have failed all the time," she said, "Everyone in my clan hates me, but I still stay, I think that maybe if I try harder they will accept me."

"This is different Merrill," he said.

"Is it?" she asked and he sighed, "Please can we at least help him?" she asked and he looked at her. He looked into her eyes, "Please Will, he is badly hurt," she pleaded.

"That thing and its blasted religion got my entire species killed off and you expect me to help it?" he said, his voice still calm.

"But did he cause it?" she said, "As little as I know I know it doesn't take one creature to kill and entire species, and he didn't even touch me the day I saw it. Besides, if the human race was gone would you still be here, would any of the villages still be?" he sighed.

He gave in, not saying a word he stood and walked over to where the creature lay limp against the tree, it's breathing a labored wheeze. He picked it up gently and its head hung limply, he shifted his arm so as to not let the blood rush to the head, it fell against its chest.

He passed Merrill and she looked at him with sad eyes, she understood what he felt, but she could still never comprehend the hate he had toward the Covenant. After a while they had gotten to the camp, the Skirmishers breathing had grown lower and lower, Merrill felt its pulse and said he still had one, but barely. They drew even more stares than when Will had first set foot in the camp, the creature in his arms drawing followers as they brought it to the Keeper.

Merrill knocked on the aravels door, "Keeper we need medical aid?" she said and the Keeper opened the door.

"What is it da'len?" she asked, warmth and multiple fragrances spilling from the open door. She saw the Skirmisher, "Oh dear, bring it in, hurry," she said and Merrill stepped in, Will ducking in after her, the Keeper waved off the stares and followers they had drawn and closed the door.

She sat down next to where Will had placed the creature on the small alter, purple-black blood dripping from his hands and from the creature onto the floor. "I do not know what this creature is but it would seem it is smarter than most animals," she said inspecting the leaves on the creature's thigh.

She pulled them off to inspect the wound on its leg, "Da'len would you kindly assist me?" she asked without taking her eye off the wound. Merrill grabbed a small bowl of clear liquid with a white cloth and brought it over, the Keeper took the cloth and dabbed the wound.

The Skirmisher howled and thrashed about, Will tensed, but it fell silent again as the Keeper kept the cloth pressed to the wound, the white cloth turning purple. She set the cloth back in the bowl and Merrill took it away, coming back and kneeling beside the Keeper.

"I may be able to help this creature, but it is badly wounded, and I know of no other animal that has a blood of such color," she said and Merrill nodded, it was here for her, not Will, he remained silent.

They set their hands above the wound and began to recite a chant, their hands glowing slightly as the wound slowly stopped bleeding and closed itself. After a while the wound was cleaned and closed completely, the Skirmisher's breathing having returned to normal.

"It may remain asleep for a time," the Keeper said after they had finished, "but otherwise I believe it will survive," she said and Merrill nodded, looking to Will as he continued to remain unresponsive.

"Thank you Keeper," she said and the Keeper nodded, opening the door and allowing them out into the cold night.

"You didn't plan on keeping it did you?" Will asked as they walked back to the tent, Merrill looked up at him, he remained looking forward.

"I was actually," she said and she heard him sigh deeply, "Do you hate me now?" she asked quietly.

He sighed, "Merrill, it will take more than that for me to hate you," he said, "but don't expect me to get along with it," he said ducking into the tent, she followed suit. She climbed into her bedroll without another word and closed her eyes, she couldn't get to sleep though.

After a while she opened her eyes and looked over at Will as he lay on top of the bedroll again, "Pst," she said and he surprisingly turned his head and looked at her. "Sorry did I wake you, I'll leave you be," she said feeling stupid.

"No you actually didn't," he said looking up at the top of the tent.

"Why can't you get any sleep?" she asked curiously.

He shrugged, "Not sure, thinking too much I guess."

"Sometimes I'm afraid of what I'll dream about," she said though it wasn't the reason she couldn't fall asleep. She propped her head up with her elbow, setting her cheek on her hand as she looked at him, "Sometimes the Fade plays trick on your mind when you sleep, nasty demons could be sometimes," she said. They had talked some about the Fade but never that it connected to dreams, but she still wasn't expecting it when he looked at her.

"So the Fade holds demons and you connect to it when you dream?" he asked, he knew that only mages dreamed here apparently and only they could access the Fade but he never made the connection.

"Why yes of course, the Fade is a truly dangerous place. I heard stories that in the Circle uses Templars to invade the dreams of certain magi and kill them in the Fade, making them Tranquil," she shivered at the thought. Being an emotionless zombie who did the Templars bidding without a word against it.

"Doesn't sound like the best of fates," he said, they had discussed the Circle before, apostates, Templars, Tranquils, the whole enchilada. But to be killed in your own dreams here meant to become an empty shell of a person sounded like a horrible fate, one almost worse than death one could say.

"It's not," she said plainly.

They sat in silence for a minute, Merrill yawned, "Let's get some sleep," Will suggested and she nodded drowsily, falling back onto the bedroll and drifting to sleep.

Will remained awake for another hour before closing his eyes and drifting to sleep himself.

* * *

><p>It had been three days since their encounter with the Skirmisher as Will called it and Merrill still had yet to understand what this thing was and how it worked. She held the holopad in her hands, twisting it upside down and all around. She didn't understand the symbols on it either and she had studied almost every language but she could not understand this one.<p>

She decided it was a lost cause for the time being, setting it under her pillow and walking out of the tent and heading for the Keepers aravel, Will having already set out earlier. She stepped inside the warm aravel and noticed the Keeper was gone, she decided to get the things she needed and practice a little.

She knelt down unknowingly by the Skirmisher and reached down to grab a large book from under the nook he was on. His eyes shot open to her unknowing and looked at her, she looked up at him suddenly. She yelled out and he let out a croak as he jumped back and quickly observed his surroundings, there was only the elf girl and the door was open.

He looked at her and tensed, ready to spring at the slightest movement, her breathing was rapid and she clutched her heart. "Don't do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack," she said and he cocked his head to the side, she was not frightened?

He leaned forward and got close to her face, turning his head as he inspected her curiously. "Do you have a name?" she asked and he remained silent, "A name?" she asked slowly, "Do you understand?" she asked nodding and speaking slowly, interesting behavior.

He did not quite have the lips to form the words properly but was able to speak clearly enough, "Kael-esh," he croaked. He realized his throat was very parched and he hungered for food.

"Kaelesh?" she said testing the word, "What an odd name, would you like some water?" she asked and he looked at the small jug of water she reached over and grabbed. He took it in both hands and gulped down the water, his long neck bobbing with each large gulp.

She looked surprised at how quickly he had drunk it, it was strange how he had been fighting these creatures for a majority of his life and now he was being pampered by one.

"Can you walk?" she asked, he felt weak but he attempted to stand, his legs wobbled as he rounded his legs off the small nook and stood slowly. He collapsed onto his arm and then that gave way he fell into the elf girl, she caught him and helped him up.

He felt fowl toward himself as he needed the help of a human just to stand, an elf, but they were the same save for their ears and accent. She stood now and held out her hands to steady him, he supported himself with a small ledge while his legs adjusted again. When his legs stopped feeling like jelly he took one step at a time, walking around the room before he was able to move at a decent pace.

The elf girl looked pleased at his recovery and she offered him a hand to help him down the steps of the small cart, he refused it and hopped over them, landing and staying up, if loosing his balance for a moment. She stepped down after him, "What. Is. Your name?" he asked her as he tried to form the words properly.

"Merrill," she said smiling, but it faded as she saw something over his shoulder, he turned and saw an elf in green armor standing there, "Jegoron," she said lowly.

"This is too far Merrill, now you bring demons into the camp, it was bad enough you just spoke to them, and brought a shem into the camp" the elf said pulling out a sword of metal. Kaelesh opened his mouth and hissed, his feathers pricking up as he took a threatening step forward and holding his claws out but close to his body as he did his best to look threatening again despite feeling weak.

The elf girl, Merrill, stepped between the two of them with her arms out, "Please do not fight," she said and faced the other elf Jegoron. "He is not a demon, I- I don't know what he is but he is not a demon," she said and the elf scoffed, pushing her aside and raising the sword.

Kaelesh was weak, but he still had his needle gauntlet on his arm, when the sword came down he held up his right arm and the blade got caught on the needles, he brought his face to the elf's, and hissed in his face. He shoved the blade aside and tackled the elf, rolling over him as he kicked him off, landing and already facing him.

"Enough!" he heard the elf girl shout and felt something wrap around his legs, working up them till they held his arms also. He saw the same thing happening to the other elf as roots come out of the ground and bound them in place. The elf girl stood with a staff in hand, "I want this to stop now! Jegoron he is not a demon, and he is not a threat unless you want to harm him, please leave him be!" she called out to the other elf.

He looked at Kaelesh before nodding, the roots let go of them, winding back into the ground, many eyes drawn to the incident. Kaelesh hesitated for a moment as they both stumbled, the elf stood staring at him and he stood tense, ready to pounce, but he looked away, grabbing his sword and walking off, saying something he did not understand and Merrill did not hear.

"Come on let me show you to mine and Will's tent," she said and grabbed his wrist and lead him toward a small triangular cloth house, she let go of his hand when he walked next to her, knowing where they were headed. As they passed he saw a yellow square with a drawing on it, he stopped and cocked his head, creeping forward and looking down at it, turning his head. It was him, he picked it up and turned it, it looked like a Skirmisher, it had black armor so it must have been him.

"Do you like it, it's a drawing of you?" she asked happily, Kaelesh looked at her curiously, then back at the picture.

There was a booming sound, his head shot up from the picture and he looked to the sky in the distance. He held his head high and sniffed the air, the distant smell of rain filling his nostrils, he huffed and gave the drawing to Merrill.

"It looks like it is going to storm, quite badly by the looks of it. I remember a man I saw outside a tavern once, he said the sky looked angry, I don't think the sky can get angry, but if it can wouldn't it be sad?" she asked aloud and Kaelesh tilted his head. He looked out, the sky did indeed look quite angry too, the first of the winds carrying over the camp, his feathers fluttered slightly with the breeze.

The demon came into camp at that moment with a small group of elves, breaking off and heading to another cart house, the demon walking to them, the needle rifle on his back. "We had better make sure everything is inside before the storm hits," he told Merrill, giving Kaelesh a blank glare with his visor, he stared back, unfazed.

They began to bring stuff into the small tent, Kaelesh watching as he had not a clue as to what he should do to help or if it would be wanted. He decided to bring the picture in, grabbing it where Merrill had set it down and going into the cramped space of the tent, setting it down on a blue cloth roll he had placed a crystal shard a time before.

As he set the crystal down he glimpsed something coming from under the pillow, he moved it and saw his holopad, curious. He picked it up, studying it for damage and finding none he turned it on, Merrill stepped in with an unlit candle in hand, he looked up, "You got it to work?" she said surprised.

Kaelesh did not know what she meant, had they tried to break into it, of course they did, why wouldn't they, he grumbled, the action bobbing his throat. She set down the candle and sat down next to him and leaned back on her palms, looking over his shoulder as he glanced at her, the holopad finally booted fully. He tapped in several commands, then barked into it to activate the vocal lock, it scanned the vocal pattern and then opened to a small set of symbols that made up the Covenant language.

"What does it do?" she asked curiously.

He tapped in several commands and a story of one of his ancestors came up, the symbols scrolling down until it loaded fully, returning to the top. She looked at the symbols with interest, but had no idea what they said, she was about to ask when Will poked his head through.

"Merrill I could use some help with the tarp," he said, she got up and walked outside to help him, Kaelesh left alone as the wind howled outside, the tent fluttering slightly with it.

He shifted to the back of the tent, leaning against a large wooden trunk, he had read the story before, but it helped to stay in touch with ones society when one was alone. This would take getting used to, he knew, but he did not mind so much now that he knew he could be in the open. He continued reading, Merrill and the demon walking into the tent when they had set up the tart, closing the tent flap. He watched with interest as Merrill lit the candle without anything other than her hand, a small flame forming on it and she lit the candle, extinguishing the flame on her hand.

He set the holopad aside and crossed his arms, his head falling over his chest, his legs resting strangely on the ground with the way his legs were, he fell asleep quickly.

* * *

><p>Merrill opened her eyes suddenly and looked around the tent, Will lying on the bedroll next to her, the small flame from the candle making shadows on his mask. She looked back at Kaelesh as he slept with his arms crossed, he remained silent and unmoving save the rise and fall of his chest, just out of reach of the candlelight. She looked at the small flame as it flickered slightly, the tent fluttering in the wind with the storm. She was glad they put up the tarp, it sounded like the rain was particularly brutal this night.<p>

She blinked her eyes feeling even more tired, she did not know why she had woken so suddenly. She shifted a bit under the bedroll, it was warm inside, but she felt uncomfortable for some reason, she slept in this spot before so why was it so uncomfortable.

She gave the creature in the back of the tent another look as it slept, it only had spoken to her to tell her its name, even that was hard to understand at first. She wondered why that was but she did not mind it, people had refused to talk to her at all before so she was glad it at least tried, at least she thought it did. Maybe it could teach her the symbols that were on the small box he had, the one with the strange moving writing.

She finally found a comfortable spot and closed her eyes looking at Will, she wondered if he hated her now that she brought one of his enemies into the clan, not only that but into the same tent also. She felt alone again that moment before falling asleep, she wondered if he would forgive her where so many others did not.

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><p><strong>AN: Quick update people, its hard to try and guess how Merrill would react to one situation, i'm trying my best, please leave a review and enjoy the story.<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 9

It had been a month or so now since they had arrived at the mountain and still they had had no visitors from the city other than a couple Templars. Merrill sat alone with Kaelesh outside as he sat against the trunk taking a nap, Will having gone out again with the hunters. The weather had gotten cold recently and Merrill was quite cold despite the fire she had made, frost still lingering under her toes despite being past midday.

She adjusted her scarf a bit on her neck before continuing her drawing of Kaelesh as he slept, she still didn't know why it was he had intrigued her so much, maybe he was just as much an outcast as she. Merrill had learned that there was a demon on the mountain, both her and the Keeper had seen a vision in their dreams, but she wanted its help to cure the taint fully from the Eluvian. Despite the Keepers and Will's warnings she had still gone, made a deal with the demon, and cured the taint fully from the Eluvian.

She added the last detail to the drawing and held it out a bit so she could look at it better. She closed and eye and compared it to Kaelesh as he slept, his foot twitching slightly, she smiled at the resemblance, she had received a little bit of praise from Will about how she had improved. Well if one could call it praise really as much as he could show, but she had blushed, smiled, and babbled nervously.

She felt herself reddening a little bit as she thought of the conversation, she had realized that Will was very different from all the other humans she had met, which was very few. Despite being a "Spartan", she still really didn't know what that meant but she figured it was some sort of elite guard or something, but also how he acted, though she guessed it was also because he was a Spartan.

Him and Kaelesh had had a real hard time getting along, often resulting in Will staring her down as she defended the creature before walking away to meditate or do something to calm himself. She had never really seen him smile despite him having taken his helmet off several times, only the once at the spring. It was a beautiful smile, but he had only done so once, other times it was just like chiseled stone, hard and masculine too, and his beautiful eyes.

Merrill paused for a moment, sitting straighter and her eyes widening as she stopped herself in mid thought and banged her head a bit with her palm.

"Stop it Merrill, stop it!" she told herself trying to banish the thought, she felt her face heat up despite the cold. She had had thoughts like that often, she realized, was she really falling for him, was she really falling for a human? She almost felt like she thought it like it was a bad thing but her whole clan weren't great fans of humans despite Will's usefulness, but she guessed they had excepted him as a bit more than human.

Kaelesh moved a bit and his head rose slightly as he looked around sheepishly and yawned a great yawn.

"Excuse you," she said politely and the creature didn't really seem to notice much. She held up the drawing, "Do you like it? I made it when you were sleeping, I hope you don't mind," she said and the Skirmisher, as Will called it, tilted his head.

"Yes," it formed the word slowly, she had been helping it speak a bit better in the past month and he had improved also, she smiled none-the-less though.

She set the drawing down and stood, it watched her as she did so, "Would you like to walk with me?" she asked and it shrugged and nodded, standing up and grabbing its "needle rifle" as they called it. She would have advised against it but the mountain was quite deadly, giant spiders, roaming restless souls, dragons even from time-to-time, small ones though.

She looked around the camp a bit, it was probably warmer inside the tent but she had preferred to be outside in the fresh air, besides, it didn't seem like Kaelesh minded too much anyway. They headed up the path that led up the mountain, walking on the cold stone steps that were buried into the mountain.

As they climbed they came across a small bag on the ground, Kaelesh looked around as she bent down to see what it was. It was a small brown leather pouch just sitting in the open, a small bit of it open already, she saw a glint of gold in it, reaching down to have a better look. She didn't like stealing, but it would be nice to hold onto it in case the owner came back, suddenly she was violently pushed aside and she stumbled onto the ground.

She turned herself and looked back to see and arrow fly by where she had been a moment before, Kaelsh in mid-dive as he dodged away from pushing her away. He landed on his feet and fired into the trees where the arrow came from, a cry being heard from each shot until there was a purple explosion. She pulled the staff off her back and looked into the trees, Kaelesh ran forward and pointed the rifle around before telling her in a hand gesture that the target was dead, the ambush failed.

She walked over to see the bloody remains of what used to be a being of some sort, she cringed a bit. Merrill crouched down next to the body to get a better look at what it used to be, definitely not human, it was an elf but not one of the Dalish, this one seemed to have been an outcast or something.

"Head back," Kaelesh said in his throaty bark-like voice, she nodded and stood, it most likely wasn't going to be safe around here especially since the elf may have not been alone. By the time they had gotten back Will was sitting cross-legged by the fire with his helmet off as he stared into the flame, an untouched bowl of food next to him.

"Where were the two of you off to?" he asked as they walked up to the tent without taking his gaze from the flame.

"We went for a walk on the mountain trail, how was your hunt?"

He shrugged, "We didn't find anything today, didn't seem like much was out there anyway," he said.

They stood in silence for a moment, Kaelesh stepped past Merrill and went into the tent, she watched him and Will also glanced over his shoulder. "Still don't think we should keep him around Merrill. Any Covenant around is usually a bad thing," he said to her, she sighed impatiently, they had had this conversation before. "I'm serious Merrill, I don't care how much you like him but he has to go sooner or later, preferably sooner."

"Well what has he done exactly to need to leave?" she asked putting a hand in her hip.

"For one he was the one who kidnapped you when the town was ambushed, he doesn't let us close to his holopad unless he's watching, and he's Covenant, which gives me plenty of reason to hate him."

She frowned, he had told her that before but she had forgiven Kaelesh, "Well it's not like it's much use to us anyway, neither of us can read the glowing box thing whatever it is," she said.

"A holopad," he corrected.

"A holopad, neither of us can read it and just because he was in a religion that believes in Gods that want the destruction of human kind doesn't give you a reason..." He raised an eyebrow, "Let me rephrase that," she said waving her hands, "We all have different religions but to hate one because of which they worship is not a good reason to hate someone."

He shook his head, "You don't get it Merrill, no offense but I hope you don't either, until you've seen what I've seen and been in my shoes then you won't understand," he said, but they were such big shoes, Merrill thought.

They looked at each other in silence for a minute, finally he sighed and stood, grabbing his helmet and putting it on, "I'm going to go for a walk myself I'll see you when I get back," he said passing her.

She watched him as he walked down the path opposite of the mountain into the woods, she turned again and saw Kaelesh watching also. She sighed, "Are you hungry too?" she asked as she felt her stomach rumble, he shrugged. They walked to where some of the meat was and grabbed some raw chunks, Merrill grabbing a pan to heat hers.

They walked back and sat down, Merrill put the pan over the flame and set the deer meat inside of it, Kaelesh taking a bite out of his while it was still raw, easily tearing a large chunk. When her meat was done cooking Kaelesh had finished, she went to work cutting off slices as he watched.

When she was done Kaelesh stood and spoke, "Sleep," he said and walked into the tent, Merrill watched as he walked in, deciding to go up the mountain path and practice a little.

* * *

><p>Kaelesh watched from a crack in the flap as Merrill walked away, he had heard their conversation and knew this time was to come sooner or later. He turned around again and grabbed his holopad, putting his needle rifle on his back, peeking out to see Merrill still a bit far away, he crept out and ran straight for the woods.<p>

He jumped over the small drop-off and turned to look back one last time, he watched the elves still going about their business, no one had seen him, good. He watched as Merrill seemed to have forgotten something, walking back into the tent and a moment later rushing out and looking around. She called his name, he closed his eyes and turned, opening them and running into the woods without looking back.

* * *

><p>A long while later Will returned, it was already dark out and when he walked back into camp he saw Merrill with her legs drawn up and her arms around them as her chin rested on her knees. She just stared into the flame, her cheeks a little red and her eyes slightly so also, something was wrong.<p>

He walked up to her, "I hope you're happy," she said blankly and he looked down at her, she continued to look into the flame, "Kaelesh left without even saying goodbye, I hope you're happy."

He looked at her a moment longer, he slowly turned his head and walked into the tent, she heard Merrill sniff as he guessed new tears were going down her face now. He sat for a moment longer before walking outside and silently sitting next to her, putting a comforting arm around her and pulling her a little closer, she did not resist as she fell into him and cried.

He was not used to comforting people but he knew he had hurt her, she was a fragile being but one who cared for others despite how much they rejected her, he felt a little ashamed.

"Why would he leave?" she sobbed and sniffed as she rested her head on his chest.

"I don't know Merrill," he said slowly running his hand up and down her mail-covered arm to try and sooth her. He didn't know what to say to help her, he probably was the reason for the Skirmisher leaving but he wasn't going to bring it back, he cared about Merrill, he wanted to keep her safe, but keeping it around was spelling trouble.

After a while she cried herself to sleep and he picked her up gently and brought her into the tent, setting her in her bedroll, and moving a strand of hair from her eye before turning to get up.

"Promise me you won't leave too," she whispered to him, he turned back to her.

"I promise," he said, he watched her a moment longer before her breathing had slowed and he knew she was asleep, he quietly stood and walked outside, sitting by the fire. He looked at her drawings that were by the fire, he grabbed them, they were warm in his hands from being by the fire for so long.

One in particular fell into his lap and he picked it up and turned it over, it was a drawing of him, without his helmet, he glanced back at the tent and sighed, setting the drawing aside he walked back into the tent and laid down on the bedroll. He glanced at Merrill one last time before closing his eyes and drifting to sleep.

* * *

><p>It had been a couple more days and the weather had gotten warmer but the clouds still lingered a bit, Merrill sat on the mountain path. Will had been gone when she woke up and she feared he had left also but he had been sitting by the fire reading a book outside, leaving after a while with the morning hunters.<p>

She practiced a little as she sat, she heard some talking coming from the camp, voices that sounded a little human almost. Probably visitors is all, the Keeper said that she was expecting guests to do a ceremony for Asha'bellanar, maybe they would finally take her.

She heard footsteps behind her and glanced over her shoulder, there was a woman in red armor accompanied by a dwarf, an elf in grey armor with blue lines on his skin, and a girl with a staff on her back. She canceled the spell she was practicing and stood, "Aneth'ara, you must be the one the Keeper told me about," she started.

* * *

><p>Will was reading again when he saw Merrill walking down the mountain path with four others, two humans, a small man he assumed was a dwarf, except he didn't have a beard which was apparently odd for dwarves, and another elf.<p>

He watched as they spoke to the Keeper and Merrill glanced at him, he set the book down and put on his helmet and stood, Merrill turned to the Keeper and then the human standing next to her.

When he walked over and the Keeper spoke to him first, "Spartan, Merrill was wishing to leave with this woman and her companions, she was wishing you would join them." He was a bit shocked to hear this, though he did not show a sign, he looked at Merrill and she smiled up at him, he nodded to the Keeper and Merrill's eye's seemed to sparkle.

"Then let us set off," the woman said and turned to Merrill, "is there anything you would like to grab before we leave?" Merrill nodded and Will did as well, they walked back to the tent.

"Can you believe it, we can finally leave," Merrill whispered to him happily, practically jumping with joy, as they stepped inside, she set her drawings and papers in her trunk and Will simply grabbed his pistol and rifle, his sword already on his hip having never left there. He lifted the trunk onto his shoulder with ease and walked out after her.

"Er...would you like some help with that?" the woman asked in slight amazement as Will walked out with an arm around the chest as it sat on his shoulder, he shook his head and gestured that they could go, and they did just that.

* * *

><p>They finally reached the Alienage, Merrill seemed to have lost that twinkle in her eyes when she saw it. She turned to Hawke, as they had learned names on the way, "El'ganar… is this…is this really where the elves live?" she asked sadly.<p>

"Yes this is it," Fenris said cruelly.

"Not the prettiest part of Kirkwall but at least you don't have a view of the giant chains, take what you can get," Varric said.

"I didn't think it would be so-so-," she didn't finish hanging her head, dismal, Will thought as he looked around. "I've never seen so many people in one place before, it just seems so lonely," she said.

"Working your way up will be fun… alright that's a lie it won't be fun," Hawke said and Merrill nodded.

"Some adventurer I am, barely set out and I'm already daunted," she turned to Will, "Well at least I still have you," she said and he nodded, she smiled. "Thank you for all your help," she said to Hawke, "Will you come visit me some time, not now of course, but maybe later," she said.

"Of course, but only because you used that 'you kicked my puppy' voice.

Merrill nodded and Will did also, they turned to Merrill's house and she opened the door, their companions turning and walking away.

"I'm tellin' ya that giant she has with her gives me the heebie-jeebies," he heard Varric comment quietly, he smirked and walked inside.

Merrill had a disappointed look on her face as she looked around the large two room house, "It's so…so, small, and the air doesn't seem at all fresh around here," she said.

He set the trunk down by a pedestal in front of the fire place, Merrill knelt down and opened it and began to take things out, "I don't mean to be rude but you must have expected this at some point," he said and she nodded sadly.

"But I don't regret leaving though," she said and he set a hand on her shoulder as she looked at the pictures of Kaelesh.

"I know," he said and she looked up at him and smiled, the twinkle returning to her eyes, he patted her shoulder and helped her empty her things.


	10. Chapter 10

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 10

Merrill sat alone on the edge of the dock, one hand on the post the other lying gently on the deck itself while her feet dangled mere feet from the water. She was humming a tune about the Gods to herself as she sat and thought. They had been in the city for about three month now, Hawke was trying to fund money for her expedition and her and Will had been left to themselves, Hawke had yet to visit.

Varric had been taking care of her though, he had even given her a ball of twine to help her through the city when she got lost, she still drove the merchants crazy when she went out.

As if hearing her thoughts Varric called her, "Hey Daisy what are you doing here?" he asked taking a seat next to her.

She grinned slightly, "Hello Varric, I was just looking at the horizon is all, I have never seen water so dirty before though," she said looking at the greenish brown water.

He laughed, "Well at least they filter it before it gets to a well," he said and stood up, awkwardly so do to his stunted legs. "I'll be seeing you Daisy take care of yourself…and the Giant too," he added with a wink before walking off to the Hanged Man.

She watched him till he rounded the corner, she looked back at the murky water and felt home-sick. She had missed the clan on several other occasions, but here it was so fascinating and wonderful, thought provoking one could say, why, she saw a mugging right outside her door the other day.

She was at least glad the Will had stayed with her, she wondered how she would have felt otherwise. Her lips tightened together and she frowned, her head slowly drifting down as she felt alone again. She stood and turned around to head back to the Alienage, even there she felt so out of place.

Will often stayed with her since there was not much to do, but Hawke had him come with her a lot despite never inviting Merrill along. She had barely even ventured around Kirkwall other than the Alienage, though several times she wandered into Darktown when she got lost or needed something, even sometimes going to Hightown to look at all their wonderful gardens.

Hawke lived close by but when she went to go see her she was always greeted by Hawke's grumpy uncle Gamlen, usually telling her to bugger off, whatever that meant, but he often closed the door in her dace afterwards. She thought more about it and felt a tear well up in her eye, she wiped it away and kept walking.

Even here she was so alone, so mistreated, so…unwanted, "Merrill," a voice said and she turned, Will was walking up behind her, alone this time. She tried to look as normal and happy as possible but she knew better than to try and fool him, she let her figure show her emotion and he understood.

"Come on lets go to the Hanged Man, maybe we can talk a while," he said, neither of them drank so she wondered why he suggested it. But before she could finish thinking he turned and walked down the street a bit, stopping and looking over his shoulder and Merrill ran up to him.

"Isabelle was gonna teach me something called body-shots?" she said not knowing what that was and she looked up at him, she could tell he was frowning, she didn't know how, but she knew. "Is that bad, did I say something dirty?" she said quickly and Will shook his head.

"No, just, try not to take too many," he said and they kept walking eventually reaching the Hanged Man and walking inside.

"You know I was supposed to be the king of Ferelden once, bit nooo, that stupid Warden made my cousin the queen and who knows where he is now," Alistair whined from his spot at his table as they walked in.

Merrill was interested for a moment, the hero of Ferelden, her Rradal? "Quiet you drunk fool, you don't know the difference between the blunt end and the sharp end of a sword anymore," someone said from the bar.

But Merrill was more interested than she had thought, walking to the drunk man who had his back to her, "You knew Rradal?" she asked out of curiosity.

He turned and squinted his red eyes, he was quite drunk by the looks of it, he didn't even seem like he could sit straight. "Yeah what's it to you elf girl, you look Dalish, I doubt that has anything to do with it," he said his words slurred together.

"He was a good friend of mine in my clan," she said, he was one of her only friends when she was first given to the clan, she wondered if he still even remembered her.

"Yeah well now he's off doing Andraste knows what and I'm stuck here," he said.

"Why don't you go back?" she asked, Will grabbed her shoulder gently and brought himself close to her ear.

"Merrill, come on," he said so quietly she had barely heard him over the noise of the tavern.

"Because," he said turning back around and swirling his tankard, "I'm going to be beheaded if I go back, at least he didn't let her kill me," he said moping.

That definitely sounded like the Rradal she knew, always caring to the end, "Great now you gone and bummed him, now he's gonna be like that for a whole week," someone said.

They walked over to where Isabelle sat ordering a drink, Will set his elbows against the counter and waited patiently for something, that was at least what Merrill guessed.

"What's the big man waiting for?" Isabelle asked gesturing to Will, she shrugged, "Well I wonder if he'll be here till dark, never seen such a big man in bed before," she said.

"Isabella!" Merrill said, she knew she talked like that a lot but never about Will.

"What honey, I just said I've never seen a man that strong in bed before," she said using her silver tongue to her advantage.

"You know I can hear your entire conversation," Will said looking over, "You've never even seen my face before, for all you know I'm a Qunari," he said.

"Never seen one of those in bed either," she commented and took a sip from her tankard and set it back down. "Besides you and Hawke seem to have a thing going anyways," she added and Merrill tensed and looked at Will who shook his head and looked back at the door.

She felt a bit hotter and more nauseas than she normally did in here, she pardoned herself and walked outside, it felt a bit better, at least the air wasn't _as_ dirty out here. She decided just to head back to the Alienage, it had already gotten dark anyway, was she really in there that long?

She walked down the street and noticed someone following her, no they were probably just going the same way as her. She rounded a corner and looked behind her, the person had two other people with him, a bigger one and one about the same size, she started to worry a little, she turned and saw two other figures walking down the street.

She rounded a corner and quickened her pace, the people following her, she should almost be home, she rounded the corner, and realized she had gone the wrong way.

She turned and the figures ran into the alley she had walked into, she reached behind her back and remembered she didn't carry her staff in public, she was defenseless. They circled around her, she backed up until she felt the cold stone wall behind her, and then one lunged forward, making a grab for her.

She ducked and turned running, only to be caught in the arm and pulled back, "No!" she yelled and tried to fight back but the other men joined in and held her down.

She heard a clicking sound, "Step away from her _now!_" a voice demanded, she looked up and saw Will standing there with his pistol in hand. She hadn't seen him take it out for months, she saw a strange hilt in his hands, that he hadn't for an even longer period of time.

The men just looked at him, "I said _NOW!_" he demanded and the men drew swords and axes, "Fine, have it your way," he said, snapping his blade and firing two shots as he dashed forward. He did and uppercut and split a man from toe to head as the men holding her arms dropped to the ground with holes in their heads.

A man swung his axe and Will swung a parry and split the blade in half, finishing the move by swinging it around and impaling the man, his skin searing and smoking from the blade. Will pulled out the blade and knocked the last man down with his other hand as he tried to sneak up on him, kicking the dagger away and pointing the barrel to the mans face, a second later he fired.

She sat shaking on the ground, she grabbed her arms and sat silently as she stared forward, she had seen the way they had smiled, they were awful smiles. Will looked around for a second before snapping the blade off the blade and holstering both it and the pistol, walking over and crouching down next to her.

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently and snapped his fingers in front of her face, "Merrill, you there? Come on speak to me now," he said and she looked at him and fell forward into him, hugging him tightly.

"What were you thinking going out on your own again?" he said as he hugged her back.

"I just wanted to back, I saw the men behind me and then in front of me and I made a wrong turn," she said pulling away.

"Please, just, don't do it again, for your own sake, I won't always be here for you," he said and she straightened in fear. "I mean I won't always be by you when you might get into trouble," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said turning away in shame.

"Don't be," he said grabbing her chin and turning her back to him, she smiled, "Come on, lets go home and get some sleep," he said and he pulled her too her feet.

They walked back and Merrill walked to the bed and laid down, pulling the sheets over herself, Will sitting on the chair. She closed her eyes, not realizing how tired she was until she had laid down, suddenly she heard a bang and shot up, Will sat with his pistol in hand, a smoking dead rat on the ground.

"Sorry, those things are just starting to piss me off," he said holstering it and leaning back in the chair and sighing, Merrill nodded drowsily and fell back onto the pillow, sleep coming quickly.

* * *

><p>Merrill opened her eyes and looked at the wooden rafters on the high ceiling, she sat up and looked at Will as he slept and blushed slightly. She had had a dream with Will, she hadn't realized that she had felt that way about him, she had a crush on him certainly, but she didn't know it was that deep.<p>

She pulled the covers off and swung out of bed, she stood and walked to the other room, walking over to the counter and checking for any rations that weren't spoiled or eaten by the rats.

She grabbed a loaf of bread that wasn't yet stale and cut off two slices, taking the same amount of cheese slices and making a sandwich of sorts. She sat down at the table and ate and she jumped when she saw Will out of the corner of her eye, he had his helmet off.

He raised and eyebrow, "Did I scare you?" he said grabbing the stale loaf and easily cutting it, taking a bit with his powerful jaws, it being like a normal piece of bread to him though he knew it wasn't.

"A little," she said as she took a bite from the sandwich and he swallowed.

"So you dream about anything?" he asked after a minute or two of silence and she tensed a little.

"No," she lied and he raised an eyebrow.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, was it really that bad?" he asked. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want too, I was just wondering, been a while since I dreamt myself," he added.

"Thank you," she said and they sat in silence for a minute longer, Will finishing a moment before her. He stood and walked over into the other room and returned with his helmet on, she stood and hugged him, he seemed surprised at the gesture a bit.

"Thank you for helping me and staying and everything else," she said and he took a moment before he returned the gesture.

"Merrill I promised you I wouldn't leave, I plan on keeping that promise," he said and she felt like crying, no one had ever been so good to her for so long.

She let go, "Are you going with Hawke somewhere?" she asked as he grabbed his sword and pistol.

"Yes, she had gotten the amount of money she needed for the expedition into the Deep Roads, you should come," he said, and so when they were both ready they both set out.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry Bethany but if something happens in the Deep Roads someone needs to be here for mother," Hawke told Bethany as Will and Merrill arrived. She turned to them, "Ah Spartan, I was wondering when you would show, it was going to be you, Merrill, Varric, and I going into the Deep Roads if you are fine with that," she said. Merrill looked at Will, he hadn't told her his name either, maybe it was special he had told her. They both nodded and they set off into the Deep Roads not long after.<p>

After they had set up camp after learning the passage was blocked Hawke walked over to Bartrand with Varric. After a quick conversation they walked over to where Will was leaning against a pillar and Merrill sat next to him.

"Alright we're going to clear the path and find one that gets passed this cave-in," she said and Will nodded and Merrill stood. They had barely rounded several corners when they were attacked by Darkspawn, Merrill and Varric stayed back while Will and Hawke charged into the fray.

When they were done Will's hands were covered in dark red blood just as Hawke's sword was, he had used his bare fists and beat the living tar out of them. She still found it amazing how he could move so fluently in such heavy armor, Hawke having not even the speed to match his.

After a minute they walked down some stone steps, a small dwarf was standing there with a lot of dead Darkspawn around him, he turned with a huge smile on his face.

"Well I'll be a nugs uncle, isn't that Bodan's boy?" Varric asked aloud.

"I don't believe it, are you really responsible for all this" Hawke asked and the boy held out a small stone.

"Boom," he said.

Hawke turned, "And how did you do that?" she asked looking at the frozen charging Ogre.

"Not enchantment," he said with a smile and walked away.

"Smart boy," Varric said, "Come on, we still need to find a path for the expedition."

And so they kept fighting their way through, until they reached a large open chamber, Will stopped, Merrill looked at him, Hawke and Varric continuing forward.

"What is it?" she asked looking around.

He grabbed his sword from his hip, "Something's not right," he said, Hawke and Varric about halfway into the chamber. Suddenly a large dragon landed and roared at them.

"Dragon!" Hawke yelled and Merrill stiffened for a moment, Will charged forward as the dragon swatted Hawke and Varric away. He ducked under a slash, rolled under a large fireball that Merrill banish away with a stone fist, and sidestepped a bite, turning and bringing his sword down. The blade cut through flesh and bone and not even the dragons hard scales could save it as it fell to the ground without a head on its long neck.

Hawke stood and her eyes were wide, she hadn't even seen it, Merrill and the rest of them quickly finished the baby dragonlings that came at them with ease, climbing the great stone steps.

"Well I think we found our path," Varric said as they looked down the large corridor, "Better go back and tell Bartrand," he finished and within the next couple days they reached the Thaige.


	11. Chapter 11

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 11

**AN: to everyone I deeply apologize for the quality of the last chapter, it was definitely not my best piece of work and I assure you I will try my best not to get so side tracked. I think if anything I might do a reshoot or edit of it at some point, I'll let you all know if and when I do so. And with that would please like you to leave a review and tell me how I am doing.**

* * *

><p>They set up camp upon arrival, Hawke, Varric, and Bartrand talking but Merrill was too intrigued with the place itself to pay attention to what they were saying. Will nudged her and she shook her head, going down the large steps where the expedition hands were setting everything up.<p>

"This place is amazing," Merrill said in awe as she looked around.

"I don't get it," Bartrand said as they approached, "If this is a Thiage then where are all the statues of Paragons?" he said looking around.

"Maybe these dwarves were different," Hawke suggested, Merrill wandering over to a large vein of what looked like red lyrium and examined it.

Bartrand shook his head, "I know enough about our history that dwarves haven't changed much over the years, but who knows I guess," he said walking away to talk to one of the scouts.

Will nudged her again and Merrill followed them up a set of large stone steps while Hawke and Varric talked, greeting Bodan and getting his thanks for saving Sandal. They approached another set of stairs that led to a darker part of the place but also continued the path they were on.

They stopped suddenly on the landing of it, "Hm, whatever is over there seems still intact," Varric said looking down at the path below, "Think we'll find anything?" he asked Hawke.

"Well if we don't the whole expedition would be for nothing," she said, Varric shrugged.

"I guess we'll have to find out," he said and so they set off down the rest of the steps, Merrill nudged Will as they got a better look of the path, she pointed to the left where a golem stood oddly out of place.

As she took a step forward two shades sprouted out of the ground next to the golem, "Shades!" Hawke called out and they attacked.

Will pulled her back by the collar as one of the things lunged, he took out his pistol and shot it several times before taking his arm that was around her away. He nodded to her and wrestled with it with his bare hands as Merrill took out her staff and started to cast lighting at the creature to help him.

She felt strong hands grab her arms as more shades had attacked them from behind, she shocked it and jumped away while it was stunned. She noticed that Will had killed his shade somehow when he spun her around with him so she could fight the golem that had animated while he dealt with the shades.

After several grueling minutes of fighting the golem, it finally fell to the ground dead, Will having already finished the shades. Hawke walked over to the chest the golem was in front of and opened it, taking out several coins and a ring.

They went down another set of stairs to where a heavy door was, Merrill looked around, then behind them to make sure no shades would sprout up. Will and Hawke pushed open the door and they walked through.

They walked down a pathway with lava on the sides and opened another door, inside was a set of large stone steps and a pedestal at the top, Varric and Hawke looked each other and climbed the steps, Will and Merrill dragging behind.

"So what do think of all this?" he asked quietly so only she heard.

"It's a bit strange, this stuff looks like lyrium but lyrium is blue not red, and it's growing quite strangely too," she said just as quiet.

They stepped up to the pedestal to see some sort of idol on it, Will turned and tapped Varric on the shoulder, Bartrand arrived in the doorway.

"Look Bartrand, looks like an idol made out of pure lyrium I think, could be worth a fortune," he said to him.

He whistled, "You could be right, an excellent find," he said strangely, Will squinted his eyes as if trying to see through him, something about him was very suspicious.

Hawke walked toward the idol, Merrill thought she saw it glow as Hawke reached for it and picked it up, "Not bad, we'll take a look around see if there's anything further in." Varric said as Hawke handed him the idol and tossed it to Bartrand.

Will looked around the room and heard Bartrand mumble, "You do that," and the sound of stone on stone, he shot around and saw the door closing behind him, he ran down the stone steps with everyone else behind him.

"The door!" Hawke announced and as Will made it to the door it closed, he shouldered it as he kept his momentum moving, but it didn't budge, everyone else coming up behind him.

"Bartrand it shut behind you!" Varric yelled, Will heard the dwarf on the other side chuckle.

"You always did notice everything Varric," he said.

"You're joking," he said back, "You're going to screw over your own brother for a lousy idol!" he shouted.

Will left them to argue while he looked around for another exit, there was only the other door at the top of the steps.

"Why I swear I will find that son of a bitch, sorry mother, and I will kill him!" Varric announced. He sighed, "Let's hope there's a way out of here," he said.

They walked up the steps, Will met them halfway, "Find anything?" Hawke asked him.

"There's another door, might take a little elbow grease but it'll probably open," he said pointing over his shoulder, she nodded and they climbed the steps.

Will put his hands on it and Hawke put her shoulder to it and they pushed at the same time, it creaked open and there was another path ahead.

"Well let's hope it leads somewhere," Varric said as he peered into the corridor.

"Well it can't be all that bad could it?" Merrill said.

"Takes going forward to find out," Will said stepping through the threshold.

* * *

><p>After several minutes of fighting through Shades, a golem, and what Varric called Rock Wriaths, they finally reached an open cave-like place. After killing the last shade they walked forward, another Rock Wraith built itself up, but it spoke.<p>

"Enough!" it said, "You have proven yourselves, and I would not like to see these creatures harmed without need," Merrill looked at suspiciously, she sensed something strange about this creature, Will noticed her posture.

"I think attacking us gives us plenty of need," Hawke said to it.

"They will not attack you further, not without my permission," it said, there was a moment of silence.

"What exactly are these things, they seem like rock wraiths but-," Varric said but was cut off.

"They hunger," the creature said, "The profane have lingered in this place for ages beyond memory, feeding on the magic stones until the hunger is all they know." Now Merrill knew why she had a strange feeling about this creature, it was a hunger demon, feasting on the creatures need for the lyrium.

"The lyrium? That's what sustains them?" Hawke said stupefied.

"I am not as they are, I am, a visitor."

"It is a hunger demon," Merrill said not taking her eyes from it, "Drawn here by their needs," she told Hawke.

"I would not see my feast end," the creature said, Will stood at the ready, something didn't seem right about the current situation. "I sense your desire to leave this place, but you will need my aid to do so," it said.

"There is nothing to be afraid of, you can use it if you're careful," Merrill said, Will looked at her shocked.

"Merrill you told me yourself never to bargain with demons, it will only use you to get what it wants," Will said surprised that she would suggest such a thing.

"What are our options?" Varric said a bit cautiously to Hawke.

She thought about it for a moment, "We don't have much choice," she said and Will shook his head.

"We're going to regret this," he muttered.

"A wise choice, there is a crypt not far from here guarded by a creature that has confounded me for too long. Slay it, and freedom is yours," it said. Then it disappeared, leaving them standing there alone.

"Anything sound suspicious about this, anything at all?" Will said feeling like he wasn't being heard, his senses wee screaming something was not right.

"Well what choice do we have?" Hawke said to him, "We can either do what it says and be free or try to go about this on our own and possibly be trapped here for ages."

"Well did you ever think that maybe there was a reason why it wants it dead, I mean maybe it confounded it for centuries for a reason. For all we know when we kill this thing it gets full control over all these creatures," he said, but Hawke dismissed the conversation with a hand, he shook his head and muttered under his breath.

Merrill looked at him, she felt a little ashamed she had suggested to bargain with it now, maybe he was right.

They progressed to a large chamber with no resistance, "Well at least it lived up to part of its deal," Hawke said.

Varric looked around a bit, "This is the vault, the dwarves would've brought their-," he stopped in mid-sentence at the sound of what sounded like stones being dropped on top of each other. They all turned to see a large stone creature building in front of them.

"Move!" Will shouted, shoving everyone out of the way as he took a large side-swipe from the creature, flying into the air and hitting a stone pillar.

"Will!" Merrill shouted and ran over to him while Hawke and Varric attacked the creature, the sound of battle drowning out her cry.

She knelt next to him while he sat up, he coughed, "Go I'm fine, just help them," he said and she nodded, he hid his pain, most likely a broken rib or two, he stood and ran forward.

After they had done enough damage it burrowed into the ground, "Where'd it go?" Merrill asked, suddenly it shot up in the middle of the room and began to glow.

Will picked up Merrill by the waist, she squeaked a bit in surprise, and spun around a pillar as Hawke and Varric did like-wise with another as the creature erupted with a powerful energy blast. When it was done it sank to the ground exposed while it drew power from the lyrium, smaller ones popping up to fight them.

"Spartan, Merrill, take care of the smaller ones!" Hawke shouted at them as she and Varric attacked the large one regaining its power. They quickly dispatched the smaller ones and helped attack the large creature, they both got several hits in before it got up.

Will and Hawke jumped back to avoid a swing from the things large stone arm, Will got an idea, he had saved them for a special occasion, now he thought was one of those. He took out a plasma grenade and activated it, "Stay back!" he yelled and threw it at the creature, it stuck right to its ribs, screamed with power, and exploded, exposing the creatures red glowing insides.

Hawke ran forward and jumped as the rocks swirled around the being, and crushed the spirit within with her large hammer they found while they were looking for a path around the cave-in. With nothing left to hold it together the large stones fell to the ground in a large pile, they walked forward passed the pile towards where they could make out a door, Will limping slightly as he had caught another strike earlier.

"Whoof, rock-wraiths are supposed to dwarven legends, they're not even supposed to be real," Varric said as they walked.

"Looked pretty real to me," Hawke said with a cocked eyebrow.

"Well I guess it doesn't matter, look what it was guarding," Varric said looking at a large pile of chests and a huge amount of gold.

There was an explosion of light behind them, they all turned, "That, is not yours," the demon said, still in its previous form.

"Told ya," Will said quietly.

"The key you require is in that chest, leave all else for it is mine," it said.

"Pst, not to pint out the obvious, but can you imagine what this stuff would be worth on the surface," Varric whispered to Hawke.

It swung a big arm through the air, "You will not! It is mine, all of it! Take only the key or I shall destroy you!" it said.

"You mind?" Hawke gestured to Varric.

"Way ahead of you," Varric said drawing Bianca and firing at the demon, it collapsed as it lost control of the body, or died, "Bianca says the treasure is ours."

Two more profane came at them followed by shades, but they were quickly dispatched, they walked over to the pile of gold, Hawke went through the chest, Varric inspected the gold, and Merrill held up a pretty necklace up to her neck while Will watched.

Hawke stood with the key in hand and a full purse of gold and opened the stone door, they stepped through, "Hm, I'd say this looks like a way back," Varric stated.

"How long to get back?" Hawke asked as she looked down the large corridor.

"If we're unlucky, maybe a week," he respond.

"And if we're lucky?"

Varric started forward, "We stumble across Bartrand's corpse," he said. Hawke chuckled a little and they made their journey back. After a short while they stopped and Merrill took care of Will's wounds as best she could so he could go on without suffering anything serious. And after several hours they set off again, now fully rested and with nothing to slow them down.


	12. Chapter 12

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 12

They finally reached the large chamber they had discovered when they had first arrived.

"Ah this looks familiar, shouldn't be too long now," Varric said as they stepped put of the large corridor.

"Finally, I was beginning to get sick of the mushrooms," Merrill said, Will staying silent.

"Come on, we still have a short whiles to go before we actually are free of this accursed place, let's move," Hawke said and without another word they all set forth.

* * *

><p>It was another couple hours before they finally stepped out into the sunlight. Merrill covered her eyes as they stepped through the threshold into the city of Kirkwall, she smiled and looked at Will as he took in a deep breath and sighed. Hawke and Varric walked ahead of them and chatted a bit, they eventually split ways and Hawke headed toward Gamlen's house while Varric made his way to the Hanged man.<p>

"I think things are gonna get pretty interesting over the next year or so," Will said tracking Hawke as she walked away before shifting his gaze to Merrill.

"Well I guess so, but I think I'll like it to stay the same if I have to go down there again," she responded and they started forward.

"I think that makes two of us," he responded.

"You know I don't think Hawke has even visited me yet," Merrill said looking up at him.

He looked at her, "Well she's been over to talk to me, but never when you were home it would seem," he said and she looked down. She had thought that, so Hawke didn't really care about her did she. "Well look on the bright side, at least I'm still here hm?" he said nudging her a little.

She smiled she would never be alone when he was around, "I know," she said.

* * *

><p>Joseph stopped and held up his hand to signal the other hunters to stop, they did so and he touched the track in the mud. It was nothing like he had ever seen before, a square like print with three small pointed toes in front and a big claw in back.<p>

Fesh crouched up to him, looking around with a bow in hand, "What is it?" he asked, finally looking down and seeing the print, "oh," he said surprised.

"What do you think it is?" Joseph asked and Fesh shrugged.

"I don't know I've never seen a print like that before, I'd say it looks something like a dragon print but aren't those extinct?" he said looking at Joseph.

He shrugged, "I don't know, I've never seen one, but this is our first time going this far into the woods," he said trailing off a little as he looked around.

"We should head back," Fesh said and some of the others grumbled a bit. "Well if there is a dragon do you wanna get gobbled by it?" he snapped at them.

There was a snap somewhere to their left, "What was that?" one of them asked.

"How should I know?" Joseph snapped, drawing his bow and creeping forward toward a bush that shook slightly. "Show yourself!" he barked and he was rewarded with a call he had never heard before, it was a mix between a bark and a hiss, he tensed and looked around.

A hunter ran back screaming, but something came streaking from the bush Joseph had positioned himself in front of and hit the man square in the back of the head, a pink crystal in his head as he collapsed. It detonated a moment later and sent grey matter and skull bits splattering over the trees, Joseph cringed and backed away from the bush as it hissed.

A creature jumped out black as night, yellow eyes glowing, pink glowing crystals protruding from its right arm, grey and black feathers protruding from the back of its head. It opened its mouth and hissed, sharp curved fangs bared, it lunged forward and the last thing Joseph saw was the dark of its throat as its jaws clasped around his skull and crushed it.

* * *

><p>It had been about a year now, Hawke has finally bought her families mansion and has became a well known noble. She still visited Will from time-to-time, often when Merrill wasn't around, but she had received comforting words from her when she had learned of Bethany's fate. She had taken a liking to the Warrior, one that one might call an unprofessional liking.<p>

Kaelesh, the creature who had been saved by a petty elf who had enough voice to persuade a giant into bringing him back to a safe haven. He had run when he learned the time had finally come, when he knew he was no longer wanted. He had now become one of the Free Marches most famous legends, a beast of black and darkness, befouling the fate of hunters and unfortunate explorers alike.

And Merrill, the fragile elf who belonged nowhere, and wanted by no one, had found one she had fallen in love with, though she kept her secret for fear of their reaction. Always feeling safe in the shadow of a giant who cared for her like a father and a lover, never breaking the promise he had given her so long ago.

* * *

><p>Merrill opened the door, "Hawke, what are you-," she started and then stopped herself, her surprise fading into loathing, "right, he's in the other room," she said walking away as Hawke stepped into the house. Merrill sat by and eavesdropped their conversation as Hawke stepped passed her into the room where Will sat reading a book.<p>

"Hawke," Will said not even looking up from the book.

"Reaper," she said, Will had not told her his actual name but he had given her his squad name, Spartan sometimes just didn't sound right. "I was wondering… I was wondering of you would be willing to move in with me up at the estate?" she spat out.

Merrill tensed and her eyes widened as she kept her head pressed to the wall, Will looked up, "Sorry?" he said.

"I asked if you were wondering if you would be willing to move in with me up in Hightown back at the estate," she said. Merrill's heart sank with sadness, Hawke was so much prettier than she was, so much more talented, smarter, more skilled, almost better than her in every way.

"No I mean sorry," he said and Merrill took a moment to become absolutely confused, Hawke staying silent. "My place is here," he said plainly.

"But this is a rundown shack, in the Alienage, I understand that Merrill would be alone but it's much better up at the estate," she said pressing.

He shook his head slowly, "I made a promise to someone a long time ago, I plan on keeping that promise, sorry, thank you for the offer though," he said returning to his book.

Hawke remained still for a moment, "You can be real stubborn sometimes," she said, Merrill sat up and took a spot up at the table.

"You don't know the half of it," Will said as Hawke appeared in the door-frame, pausing at the comment, then scowling and walking to the front door and walking out.

Merrill watched and Will leaned against the door-frame, also watching, "Well I guess that could have been worse," he said, he patted her shoulder. "Hope you understand," he said turning, he knew she had heard the whole thing?

She was still a little confused, she followed, "Why didn't you go with her?" she asked him as he sat down.

"You heard why, I made a promise, I plan on keeping it," he said and she straightened, she felt like she just got hit by a bull. He had really remembered, she felt a tear in her eye, she smiled slightly and wiped it away before it could form.

"Thank you," she said, he looked up at her, he had taken his helmet off, he smiled at her again, he stood and walked over to her and pressed his head to hers.

"Merrill, I wouldn't leave you for the world," he said, she couldn't help the tears of joy as they slipped out of her eyes.

She threw her arms around his shoulders and cried her tears, "I love you," she said finally, it felt like a weight lifted from her shoulders, and he hugged her back, his strong arms lifting her to her toes, but she never felt so loved or safe or that she belonged anywhere else.

"I know, remember what I said about pages," he said with a faint smile and she nodded, her cheek buried in his hard armor.

"I do," she said remembering all those days passed when they had first met.

He pulled her away slightly and looked her in the eyes, "I think Varric and I have something you might like, let's go to the Hanged Man and I'll show you what I mean," he told her, a hand coming up and touching her cheek ever so gently.

She nodded and he wiped a tear from her cheek with a gloved thumb, she wiped away the other cheek and smiled, he nodded and picked up his helmet. "I think Hawke might be a little interested in this too if that's alright with you," he said and she nodded.

So later that day when it was getting darker they out for the Hanged Man and stepped out of the cold night air into the warm of the pub when they finally reached it. Hawke was laughing with Isabelle and Varric pushed off a wooden support and walked toward them with open arms.

"I wondered when you two were coming, now I can finally start," he said and Hawke and Isabelle broke off conversation and followed Varric, Merrill, and Will to the spot where Varric enjoyed the most. They sat around the table and Varric stoked the fire, he turned and took his seat.

Hawke was laughing a bit, "Alright Varric what was it you called us here for?" she asked merrily.

Varric looked at Will who nodded, "Just a little story I picked up," he said and he winked at Merrill, strange, she thought. "So I was sittin' at my table one night like I normally do when a man came up to me it rags and said, 'Are you the dwarf whose friends with Hawke, the one who went on that expedition and knows the giant?' 'Why yes I am, what is it you need of me?' I said to him. 'I got a real story for you,' he tells me, so I tell him I'm all ears, why turn down a good story eh?

"So he starts, 'There I was with my hunting crew, just a couple of my drinking buddies, we hears about this one legend up in the mountain, a creature that kills everything that enters its domain. Drunk as we were we wanted to kill it and hang it on out walls, so we's grab our bows and swords and head up a trail' he tells me. 'And when we're up there we spot some peculiar tracks, weird ones wit three toes in front and a big one in back. We hear this strange noise and one of my buddies gets so scared he runs, but he only gets so far before the shadows themselves pulled him into the trees.'

"Now this man I thought was just shitting on my intelligence, but I saw somethin' in his eyes that made me think different," Varric said and paused for a sip of his ale, everyone silent waiting for him to start again. "So I asked him what they did, he says, 'Well at first we didn't know what to do, we just stared at where he had disappeared, a small pool of red came unto the path and we had started to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into' he tells me.

"'So it was just me and three more of my buddies left, suddenly a pink crystal just formed in the head of the man who was standing next to me, it exploded and so did his head. I dove onto the ground and was lucky enough to have dodged the creature as it jumped from the bush and bit into another of my buddies head, it just toppled him and crushed his head with its jaws. It was just as the stories had said, it was black as night and had glowing yellow eyes, and it was almost like the darkness itself was flowing from the back of its head.

"'So I got up and ran for my life,' he told me, 'I never even looked back as I heard it finish off my other buddy, but I just ran as fast as my legs could carry me,' he finished. So I asked him if he could draw me a picture, he said he would but he couldn't draw for shit, then he got this look in his eyes and pointed. 'That' he said, 'that's it right there' and I looked back and saw this," Varric said reaching under the table and grabbing a yellow piece of parchment.

Merrill gasped aloud and no one seemed to hear her except Will, it was her drawing of Kaelesh, but he had left so long ago, she had almost forgot about him, bit he was always there in her mind she knew.

"So here we are today and I'm gonna ask you Hawke, wanna go legend hunting?" he said and Merrill's eyes widened in horror as Hawke smirked and nodded slowly.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Alright I know this is one of my shorter chapters but I plan on making the next one a lot longer. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the story and please leave a review. Thanks all who have made it this far.<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 13

Merrill walked behind Hawke and next to Will as Varric took up the rear, Hawke had taken the both of them because they knew the area the best, Will especially. She had reluctantly agreed only because she didn't want to see anything happen to Kaelesh.

She looked up at Will, "She isn't going to kill him is she?" she asked Will in a whisper.

"I don't know, but I won't let her if that's what you want. You also got to know that we can't bring him back though, as valuable of a fighter he might be he'll stand out a lot," he told her.

She knew but she just wanted to make sure that Kaelesh wasn't hurt or anything, it had been a long time since she had last seen him.

Hawke signaled them to stop, she looked down at the tracks in the dirt, "This is the spot where the man was attacked?" she asked Varric.

"That's what he told me," Varric said, "Can't imagine that was too long ago."

"Judging by the looks of these tracks and that pool of blood it wasn't," she said pointing to a large pool of red blood not far up the trail. The was a sound that Merrill had never heard before suddenly, it was a mix between a bark and a hiss almost, she jumped suddenly and looked at Will, he knew. Hawke smiled, "I think that's our game there," she said standing and pulling out her bow.

Merrill's hand found its way to her mouth as she bit her lip and looked around, run Kaelesh, she thought, just run.

* * *

><p>He watched from the trees as the group made its way passed the point where he would have sprung his trap, but something caused him to pause. He had laid down his holopad in a tree with a recording of his call to draw them forward, there was something about the small female that was familiar, but he couldn't see her face.<p>

But then there was the demon, he guessed he had finally come to hunt him down and kill him, guess he had caught word of his presence here. The small one turned suddenly to look behind them and Kaelesh's eyes widened slightly, Merrill?

Maybe the demon wasn't here to kill him after all, maybe not however, he watched as the party made its way forward, he remained motionless and silent as a Far-tor mouse. He quietly dropped from the tree and crept forward, each step carefully placed but well paced as he snuck up on the group.

He jumped over the short one and jumped off a tree as he let out a hiss and tackled Merrill into a bush, they rolled a while off the path but eventually he came out of the roll running, Merrill in his arms. After a minute he set her down she covered her head and squeezed her eyes shut, he tried to remember how to speak the human language, "Merrill?"

She opened her eyes wide and looked at him, "Kaelesh?" she said looking at him, her mouth grew wide as she smiled and suddenly hugged him, he was surprised by the gesture and stumbled slightly. She held him at arms length, her smile grew to a sad frown, "Why did you leave?" she asked him.

"Time," he said, he looked over his shoulder as he heard people trudging through the bushes calling Merrill's name, "Again," he said sadly.

He turned to run but she grabbed his arm and held him in place, he faced her, "Please, don't leave again," she begged sadly. He sighed and closed his eyes, maybe she would protect him, and maybe not, either way he would have to find out.

"Merrill!" Hawke called out and she turned, Hawke's eyes grew wide when she saw her sitting with Kaelesh. "Merrill get away from it," she hissed as she drew the bow.

"No," she said moving in front of Kaelesh, he remained silent and motionless, watching the scene unfold, "I won't let you hurt him."

"Merrill this thing is dangerous, it keeps killing people too, we have to put it down," Hawke urged, pulling out her dagger and putting her bow away.

"Will please," Merrill begged and he stepped forward but stopped when Kaelesh put a hand on the girls shoulder.

He stepped passed her, "Duel," he said best he could.

Hawke stood agape, "It speaks?" she said dumbfounded.

"I go," he barked out, "You kill," he said, if he won he went free, if she won then she could kill him.

"No Kaelesh," Merrill pleaded but he looked at her and she understood, he was honorable, this was the best way to go if he were to die today.

"Alright, I agree to your terms," Hawke said putting her dagger away and drawing her two-handed greatsword, Kaelesh urged Merrill to move away.

He hissed and they circled each other, suddenly she shot forward with great speed, but he was faster, he dove under the blow and came up behind her. He wrapped his arm under hers and rolled over her, his back going across hers as he threw her with momentum alone, she hit a tree and fell.

She stood and coughed a little before readying her weapon again, she came at him again, but instead this time he jumped up onto a trees trunk and pushed off of it, coming at her with his arms outstretched, he grabbed her shoulders as he barreled into her. He slammed his feet into her chest and she gasped as the air escaped her. He spun himself into the air still holding Hawke, spinning her about and causing her to lose balance.

She landed on her back and was attempted to sit up only to be slapped in the cheek and have the sword swatted from her hands, Kaelesh pointed the barrel of the needle gauntlet in her face.

She looked into his glowing eyes, "Mercy," she said reluctantly and Kaelesh lowered his arm, remaining tense however in case she tried to do anything.

"Fair is foul and foul is fair," Will commented on the look Hawke had on her face as he helped her up.

"Yeah, yeah, out damn spot and what not," Hawke said going over and grabbing her greatsword, by the time she turned Kaelesh was already gone, he left Merrill with another crystal in her hands having placed it there gently. She looked at it and clasped it in her hands, she put it in her pouch with the other two shards

"Well he won, let's go back now please," Merrill urged and Hawke nodded with a foul look on her face, she obviously didn't like being outmatched. As they walked back she looked up at Will, "Do you think he'll be alright?" she asked him.

"He's been here for a year and a half already, I think he'll hold out a little longer," he said. He had found the Skirmishers holopad keenly hidden in a tree and had place a distress call on it, if they ever really needed him all they needed was to push a button.

* * *

><p>After a couple hours they came to the city again, the sky had gotten dark and the stars were just barely peeking out between the clouds. Merrill held Will's hand as they walked back, Varric and Hawke breaking off and heading toward the Hanged Man.<p>

Merrill sighed as they walked in the door, "Finally, as much as I like being out I miss my bed," she said yawning and walking over to her bed, flopping down and taking in the warmth and softness of the sheets. Will had brought his bedroll and just slept on that, Merrill had asked him if he would rather have a bed or share hers, she hadn't realized the awkwardness of the question till after it had left her mouth. But his armor had out ruled that option, he eventually had to even stop sleeping in the chair he had slept in at first.

Will set his hands on his chest and closed his eyes behind his helmet and thought a bit as he had trouble getting sleep, after a minute he felt something else on his chest. He raised his head a little and saw Merrill had laid next him and had laid a hand across his armored abs.

He smiled, he took up most of the bedroll and Merrill was hanging off the side a bit slightly, he scooted over a little and wrapped an arm behind her back and pulled her closer. Her eyes opened and she seemed surprised a bit, but she smiled and closed her eyes again, he smirked and closed his eyes, been a while since he had had feelings for someone, he was glad he knew he still could.

* * *

><p>It had been several weeks since they had found Kaelesh in the woods, Hawke had been having some trouble with the Qunari. Merrill never really had any trouble with them, but that may have been because she pretty much avoided them but they looked to Will with respect if that was what one could call it.<p>

Merrill was walking around the district, she was all by herself but she doubted anything would happen to her here. She picked up a blood red apple and tossed it in the air once, she pulled a silver from her pocket and gave it to the merchant, she took a bite out of it as she walked away. Isabelle had taught her how to strut, swaying her hips slightly as she walked, she had had trouble with it at first but she had gotten the hang of it.

She took another bite of the apple and a little stream of juice slid down her chin, she wiped it away as she chewed and took in the flavor of it. She found a spot to sit down and looked around as she ate her apple, it was amazing that despite living here for a year it still felt so new.

She finished the apple and stood, she set the core on the ground for the mice and walked away, unaware of the drunk, foolish children trailing behind her. She stopped at another stand to look at the jewelry the merchant had from Orleas, one of the boys coming up behind her.

"Hullo miss, can I help you find something?" he asked with his head held high.

"No thank you," Merrill said kindly walking down the stands to look at other goods, the boy following and pressing the conversation.

"Well why don't you just come with me and my buddies and we can show you around," he persisted.

"That's alright I can go with my friend some other time," she said walking away from the row of stands and the boy. Rich as the group was, they were not used to being rejected, they followed her.

Merrill decided to head back, she cut through an alley and before she could round the corner she felt a hand clasp around her mouth and pull her back, her scream muffled. One of the stronger boys wrapped his arms around her as another boy gagged her, she kicked out and struggled against the strong boys grasp but couldn't break free.

What did she do to them? Where were they taking her? What were they going to do to her? Most importantly, where was Will?

Merrill struggled but the boys took alleyways and hid in the shadows, they had done this before, no one had stopped them yet, but why be reckless now. She was just an elf girl anyway, no one cared for elves in this city. She was nice one, Deneris thought, licking his lips in anticipation, they set her down for a moment, Stephan was getting tired from carrying her around.

Deneris crept toward her and stroked her leg, she cringed back, fear in her eyes, he smiled, he was gonna like this one, he could tell. They were almost there, he thought, then they could do with her as they pleased, he felt his manhood stiffen as he ran his hand down her small arm, she pulled away.

He looked around when he suddenly heard and odd quiet chirp-like bark, it almost seemed distant, strange, no matter though. They decided they may as well give Stephan a break and drag the girl into the empty warehouse, they threw her to the ground and locked the doors. She struggled to get up, Deneris jumped on her and held her hands down, he removed the rag from her mouth and stood up.

"Why are you doing this to me?" she cried, backing up into a corner as they advanced on her.

"Because on one will miss you," Ned said with an evil smile.

They grabbed her arms and pulled her forward, she struggled, but it was a futile effort, they began to try to remove the tunic when Deneris heard a crash, he spun around and saw that the door was on its hinges, torn apart like it was hit by something huge.

They all stood motionless, there was a faint hissing that filled the room, hanging in the rafters and sinking into their spines. She narrowed her eyes, "You evil, evil boys, you're going to regret what you did," she said and pulled out of their grasp, she walked forward toward the door and Stephan grabbed her arm.

She protested for a moment, holding her arm up and looking at him, she squinted her eyes and Deneris heard something that was like the sound of a bow as a pink crystal suddenly appeared in Stephan's shoulder. A moment later it exploded, sending blood and gore flying everywhere but near the girl as Stephan's head only hung from a few tendons, he collapsed and the hissing started again.

The girl faced them and crossed her arms, Ned walked forward, his intent lost to Deneris as he strode forward, but stopped when a creature that looked like what he had heard in the pub. It was black as night, it had yellow glowing eyes and pink crystals coming from it's right arm, it almost looked as though a black fire was coming from the back of its head.

The creature landed beside the girl and wound around behind her legs, its head peeking out on the other side next to her hip. She stroked his head, her fingers going through the black fire, "What demon did you call on us you fool?" Ned said backing away.

She looked at him with hatred, "He is no demon, and even after what you have tried you call me a fool," she said and she looked at the creature, who looked back up at her. "Kaelesh, it is good to see you again," she said, "Do with them as you want," she said with disdain as she looked at them.

"Wait a seco-," Ned started, taking a step forward, but was cut off by the creature as is hissed like a snake, stalking forward as it crept towards them, the darkness on its head standing up like the way a cat's hair does when it is threatened. Deneris looked around but saw no way around it, but Ned apparently did not see it that way, he made a break for the door, the creature was in front of him in a second.

Deneris crept slowly around the scene, the elf girl watching Ned and the creature with an angered look on her face. The beast suddenly pounced and its jaws wrapped around Ned's head as it tackled him, forcing all his weight down on the young man and driving him to the ground. The creature pulled its head back and snapped, Ned's head nearly exploded with the force as his neck was also snapped.

Deneris sprinted for the door passed the girl, but an armored arm shot out and he ran face-first into it, doing a full flip and landing on his face. He coughed and stood, he felt his chin being grabbed and pulled up as he pushed himself up a little, he now faced a giant who was crouched down in front of him and had no face other than a blank black mirror.

The giant dropped his chin and he fell back down, "Merrill are you alright?" he asked in a cool, smooth voice.

"Yes, though I wouldn't have been if Kaelesh hadn't shown up, how did you find me?" she asked.

Deneris pushed himself off the ground but was forced into the dirt by a foot with sharp claws as they bit into his back, he looked over his shoulder to see the beast right in his face. "Stay," it barked at him and he gladly did so.

"I heard him when he made the bark, I was a while away, but he was further from you than you might have thought, plus I have better hearing than you might think," the giant said glancing at Deneris as he lay still. "What do want to do with him?" the giant said still looking at him.

"As long as I don't see him again you can do whatever you want," she said, "I need some air she said walking out the door down the street.

The giant looked at her as she left, then back at Deneris and the beast on top of him, he said nothing, he walked after her. Deneris whimpered as he almost heard the thing laugh, he regrettably looked over his shoulder as the creature hissed and opened its mouth.

* * *

><p>A day or two later Will walked in the door to see Merrill dancing around the room by herself, Kaelesh having returned to the woods, why he had just come in the first place was a mystery to him, but he was in the Skirmishers debt. He smiled and leaned on the door-frame as he watched her twirl and hum to herself, she jumped a bit, it reminded him of a ballet dancer a little, though it was nothing like it at the same time.<p>

She opened her eyes with a grin and her cheeks instantly turned red and her smile faded as she hid her hands behind her back as she saw him, "Oh Will I didn't see you," she said, "How long were you watching?" she asked quietly.

He raised an eyebrow, she saw it due to the fact he had gotten into the habit of taking his helmet off in the house, "Long enough to know you are an excellent dancer," he said and she blushed even more if that was even possible. He grabbed her hands gently in his, she looked down at them, "Mind if you show me some moves?" he asked with a smirk and she grinned back.

"Alright," she said, she raised her hand with his still holding it and placed his other on her thigh, putting her other hand on his side they began a slow dance.

After a while they started to laugh and dance about, Will had felt like he had never show so much emotion since being a Spartan, it felt nice to express himself so much. Finally it they began a slow dance again, she put her arms on his shoulders and he put his on her hips, she looked dreamily into his eyes before leaning forward and planting a gently kiss on his lips.

She pulled back again smiling and he was a bit surprised by the gesture, but he felt like he was seeing this girl through a whole new set of eyes, he had never remembered her face seeming so beautiful. Was this what love felt like? He smiled and pulled her closer as she rested her head on his chest and they continued their slow dance.

Maybe Earth was lost, maybe they had been able to defend it, or maybe by some paradox they signed some sort of peace treaty with the Covenant. But none of that mattered now he realized as he danced with the young woman, as long as he was here he had a goal, a reason to fight, he was happy.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey everyone, thank you to everyone who has favorited this story and left me a review, i am not done with story yet but then i really don't know if there will be a proper way to end it. Anyway expect maybe a longer delay between the next update, as much as i love writing this story i just have a real urge to write a Dark Souls story (located in the Demon Souls category until they make one for it), hell maybe i can make a DA crossover for it if i can make it work. Also couldn't help but put in the Macbeth quote. anyway thanks again to everyone have a great day.<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 14

Alicia Hawke couldn't help but stare at Reaper with longing eyes as he beat the living shit out of the Qunari that had ambushed them. She had tried several times to get him to come to the estate and live with her, but he just refused every time, was it her or something? She turned and blocked an attack from another Qunari that charged her down, spinning around him and cutting him in half.

She looked around and she heard a loud _BANG_ and jumped slightly startled and heard a whump, looking behind her she saw a Qunari with a hole in its head and Reaper holstering his weapon.

"Are you ever going to show me how that works?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Not much to show," he said taking it out, he took a piece of metal out of the bottom in it and pushed out a smaller bronze colored piece of metal. He held it up for her to see, "This is a bullet," he said, he put it back in the piece of metal. "Put the bullets in the clip," he slid it into the weapon, "put the clip in the pistol," he pulled the top back and it snapped back into placed, "cock the weapon, and pulled the trigger." He aimed it and at a sea gull flying above them and fired, the gull almost immediately fell right at Hawke's feet.

"Impressive," she said admiringly, as they walked back to the Hanged man. They had been on a special little quest trying to find an artifact that Reaper was looking for, they had had no luck unfortunately. "You know I have a question," he looked at her as they walked, "Why have, in all the time I've seen you, only taken your helmet off twice?" she asked him.

"Because those times I've been at Merrill's and I usually have no reasonable reason to take it off," he said, "Would you take your helm off in the middle of battle?" he asked, she nodded and shrugged, a reasonable point, wait.

They walked in silence for a long while until Hawke broke it, "So you aren't going to change your mind hm?" she asked him.

"Sorry Hawke," he said and it was all she needed to know that he probably never will.

"Well why not, is it because of Merrill, she can come too if that is truly your wish," she said and he looked at her again.

"Hawke, no offense or anything, why are you pressing me so much to live with you?" he asked her, she remained silent for a moment. "Thought that was it," he said, she looked at him baffled, she thought she had hid her feelings so well, she took pride in her ability to do so.

"Wha-how do you know? It was Isabelle wasn't it, that sneak," she said with distaste.

"That's partially it yes, but you should ask Merrill about what I've said about pages sometimes," he said as they arrived in front of the Hanged Man and he opened the door for her.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Ask her and you'll find out," he said plainly walking in after her.

She frowned and decided that doing what he said was indeed the only way to find out, they were greeted by Varric as they walked in.

"Ah there's the two adventurers, did you find what you were looking for?" he asked.

"No, the place was empty, it may have been there at one point but whatever it was it wasn't there," she said and then thought for a moment and turned to Reaper. "What exactly were you looking for?" she asked.

He sighed, he pulled the artifact from his hip, he snapped it on briefly in the quiet of Varric's private space in the back. "There was another one of these, it belonged to a fighter unlike any other, he followed me to a village and I killed him, now his sword is floating around I would like to make sure it stays in the age it belongs in," he said.

"What in heavens are you talking about," Hawke asked.

"Funny thing, you got another question for Merrill, she knows what it is, after all, she held it once" he said, she scowled.

"Can't you tell me anything?" she said becoming impatient.

"I could but that would take away some excellent bonding time, when have you spoken to her other than when you first met and when she gave you comforting words. Honestly, she would be so alone if I wasn't living with her, if you can't see the obvious then you personally aren't worth my time," he said walking away.

She was flustered he would treat her in such a way, "Stubborn fool," she said angrily.

"Well he does have something of a point Hawke," Varric said and she turned to him. "You said you'd visit her a year and a half ago and the only time you go to her house is to see the giant," he said and she thought about it.

"I'll talk to her," she finally decided, "But she's just too, I don't know, naive for my taste," she said and Varric frowned.

"You know Daisy is one of the most caring people I've met, I somewhat agree with him, if you honestly don't care about her then you're missing out on getting to know a great person."

He walked away and she was left to her thoughts, she sighed, might as well just go talk to her to make everyone happy. She stood and walked out, thankfully the Alienage wasn't too far away, she was there within two minutes at most.

She knocked on the door, after a moment she heard the handle turn and the hinges squeaked, "Hawke," Merrill said plainly, "He's in the other room," she said with a sigh and walked to the counter where she was cooking something.

"Actually Merrill I came to see you," she said as nicely as she could, Merrill looked at her, over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

"He asked you too didn't he?" she asked and Hawke frowned.

"Well if you really don't want to talk to me then fine," Hawke said a little annoyed that she came here to talk to this idiot.

"I never said that, I just know you wouldn't visit me otherwise," she said returning to what she was doing.

Hawke was a little put down by this, she had taken this girl from her clan as she had asked and now had left this impression on her, she felt a tad ashamed. "Alright he asked me to come but I also wanted to ask you a couple things," she said and Merrill cleaned off the knife she was using and turned, resting her hands on the counter.

"Well," she said, "I'll find a reasonably clean thing for you to sit on," she said pulling up a soft chair for Hawke while she sat in a creaky wooden one. She folded her hands together and set her elbows on the table, "So what did you want to talk about?" she asked.

"I was speaking to Reaper earlier and him and I went on a short expedition to find an artifact you might know about," she said. "He told me you had held it once before," she said and Merrill seemed to think for a moment, Hawke rolled her eyes, she knew she wasn't getting anything outta this fool.

"His sword?" she asked herself quietly, Hawke looked up at her, "Did he say anything about a sword?" she asked Hawke in a louder voice.

"Yes he pulled out his blade, he said another warrior from another time that didn't belong," Hawke said, leaning closer, if she did indeed get some info outta this girl she would be a little surprised.

"Then I know what you're talking about, it's another sword," she said, Hawke was indeed shocked, she had been told it was another sword but she didn't believe it at the time.

"What did he mean when he said you held it?" Hawke said, he had said it was another sword but now that she knew that Merrill knew she could pick at it some more.

She sighed, "Over a year ago he saved me from a group of slavers and helped me return to my clan," she said, Hawke didn't know what this had to do with the sword but she let the elf continue. "When we got to a small village where we met the clan we were attacked by…strange creatures, he called them the Covenant," she said, Hawke nodded, Reaper had spoken about them before at the Hanged man.

"You remember Kaelesh?" Merrill asked, Hawke nodded, "During the attack he took me to his leader as I assume he was, he was huge, taller than Reaper," she said. "He was large too, not fat, but very heavily built, and had these large burns going down half of his helmet. I was unconscious but I awoke to be pulled off the ground by my hair by it, Reaper knocked the sword aside and when the creature had him I used the things sword to kill it, well wound it, he finished it off. Reaper never grabbed the sword, they had left it with the body of it, we had heard rumors floating around but we never really believed them, till now I guess," she finished finally.

"So it belonged to this, creature?" Hawke asked out of curiosity.

"Yes," Merrill responded, she snapped her fingers suddenly, she reached into her pouch on her hip and took out three small crystals that looked like dragon scales. "Kaelesh has been slipping me these ever since that day, I don't think it has anything to do with it, but they seem important to Reaper and him," she said and Hawke pulled one closer to her.

As she did so however, she bumped another with it and they both glowed, "Amazing," she said under her breath.

"Yeah when they touch each other they glow a bit," Merrill said as Hawke inspected the crystal.

"Interesting," Hawke said and she slid it back across the table, Merrill scooped them into her pouch again. "One last thing, he said he told you something about pages that I should know," she added leaning forward.

Merrill chuckled slightly and shook her head, "When we first met and when we were talking he said he could read any person he saw like they were pages. He said it was how you read those pages was how you understand them," she said, Hawke thought, was she really that obvious, or was he really that good?

"Thank you for your time Merrill," she said standing, Merrill doing likewise and showing her to the door.

"It was a…pleasure to have you," she said with a moment's hesitation.

"I know that maybe I'm not the most caring for you Merrill, but I am, maybe we can do this again some time," she said with a smile and Merrill gave her a small smile in return.

"Alright," she said.

Hawke nodded, "Take care of yourself Merrill," she said and Merrill opened the door for her, maybe she would talk to her more, only time would tell really.

* * *

><p>Merrill closed the door and stood still at the door for a minute, she walked over to a book she had and opened it to the last page. She felt the yellow parchment between her fingers as she closed her eyes and sighed, she turned the page. She opened them again and was looking into the face of the creature, she had drawn it for it was a face that had haunted her worst dreams.<p>

She held up the page and looked over the helmeted face, she felt a shiver go down her spine as she put the page back in the book and slammed it shut. She felt another shiver for some reason and put the book away, she wouldn't look at it for a while.

There was a breeze and a rattle of the door, she turned and saw Will walk in the door, he closed the door and rolled his shoulders, reaching up and taking off his helmet. He walked up to her and planted a light kiss on her head, she smiled and closed her eyes as he put an arm around her shoulders, leaning into the kiss a bit.

She set a hand on his armor, "By the Creators, is it really that cold out?" she exclaimed as she felt the coldness of his armor begin to sink through her outfit.

"Winter is coming," he said walking into the other room and grabbing two plates from the shelf as Merrill finished what she had been making before Hawke showed up.

"Does Kirkwall even have a winter?" she said taking a plate of meat to the table and setting it down, sucking a bit of lemon juice from her finger.

"No clue, we haven't really been here long enough to know I guess," he said setting the table.

"Then why did you say winter is coming?" she asked a little confused as she brought the last of the food to the table.

He shrugged, "I've noticed some emotions coming out since I've been here, humor's one of them," he said, she gave an agreeing shrug, he never really was too humorous, heck he barely even used to smile.

When the table was ready they both sat down and they held each others hands from across the table, each closing their eyes and saying a prayer to their own gods. Merrill opened her eyes the same time Will did and she smiled, he returned the gesture and they each grabbed their utensils.

Will chewed on a piece of meat for moment and spoke, "I'll admit it, I never really ever saw you as the cooking type," he said. She had cooked dinner basically ever since they had been here, strange why he would say it now.

She shrugged though as she swallowed the tomato she was eating, "Well everyone in the clan has to contribute in some way or another, so I was multipurpose," she said.

They talked and laughed a bit as they ate, Merrill sat back and laughed, putting a hand to her mouth to prevent herself from laughing out loud as she had food in her mouth. Will smiled a bit, she looked so cute when she acted like this sometimes, he found himself looking into her eyes as she opened them again.

He smiled a light smiled and finished his plate, he stood and picked up his plate, walking past Merrill he kissed her and placed his plate in the sink.

"Got any plans tonight?" he asked, she shrugged.

"When do either of us ever have plans?" she said, he shrugged.

"Plenty of times really," he said crouching next to the bookshelf and fingered through the books till he found one, he took it out and a piece of yellow parchment fell out. He looked at Merrill as she stood and walked her plate tot eh sink, he had been finding her drawings all over the place lately, he wondered what this one was as he picked it up and turned it over. He frowned, it was the elite they had encountered all those months ago, she still hadn't forgotten it he knew, he heard her at night.

"Still havin' those nightmares?" he asked still looking at the picture.

She hesitated, "Well, sometimes, but I doubt it's anything serious," she said, he looked at her, she saw the parchment, "Oh, those nightmares, yes, occasionally."

He walked over and wrapped and arm around her shoulders, they walked toward the bed, "Well I'll always be here," he said and set her down on the bed, he crouched in front of her. "Always," he said and she smiled sadly, he kissed her one last time on the forehead and laid her down on the bed, he pulled the covers over her and walked over to his bedroll.

"Will?" Merrill asked as he blew out the candle.

"Yes."

"Why are you looking for the sword?" she asked him.

He thought a moment, "I don't know, I feel like it just shouldn't be in someone's hands that doesn't know how to use it, and personally, it's way to far ahead of your time for my personal liking," he said. "Also I think that somewhere in me I think it belongs to the Skirmisher," he added, it was his Shipmasters sword, it should belong to him.

"Alright, I was curious. Good night Will," she said.

"See ya in the morning Merrill," he said resting on the bedroll and closing his eyes, things we being set into motion, he hoped he could find that sword before someone lost an eye.


	15. Chapter 15

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 15

"Yal'Karh, my Shipmaster, we have found something that may interest you," an Unggoy said hobbling over with something covered in a white cloth.

"What is it Gar'tel'un?" the elite asked the small trooper, the Covenant war had ended and he and his crew were rummaging through a long dead Covenant Battleship. The grunt handed the cloth to him, he unwrapped it to find something that made him gape in amazement. "Where did you find this?" he asked the Grunt, there were only three crystals known like these ones, one stolen by a Demon long ago, another was given to an elite Spec Ops squad that had never returned, his brother leading the mission.

"It was in the hands of the Brute Chieftain sir," the grunt said as Yal'Karh stared at the crystal.

These crystals were only ever held by the Prophets or those they trusted most, and here he was holding one because a filthy Brute tried to run with it. "Inform the humans aboard our vessel, we have urgent news we must discuss," he told the Unggoy, he hesitated, many of his troops wee not comfortable around the humans, especially the Unggoy. "Go. That was an order," he said and the Grunt hurried out of the room, he looked at the crystal a moment longer before going to the meeting room.

He waited about ten minutes before the human Captain Jeremy Fauxe and some of his company joined, mostly ODST's, "Shipmaster Karh, what is it you need of us?" he asked.

"Captain," he said in reply, "My crew have discovered something priceless to us and something that may interest you," he said, the Captains interest seemed to have spiked.

"And what would that be?" he asked and the Shipmaster began to pace.

"A year and a half ago a crystal was stolen from us that was invaluable, it's affects unknown, it was stolen by a demon, a Spartan as you call them. When this occurred my brother Bet'Karh was sent after him with a similar crystal most valuable to the Prophets and our old religion, they never returned from their mission. So here we are, aboard a ship important to the Prophets, and here we found a similar crystal," he said taking out the white, slightly glowing artifact.

"There have only been three found by the Covenant, one was the one stolen from us, the other was given to my brother, and the other we have here and now," he said trying to further show the importance of the crystal.

"What are you getting at Karh?" Jeremy asked leaning forward.

"I think we should use this crystal to try and find what happened to your Spartan and my brother, they both disappeared in Slip-Space so we can assume that that is how it is activated." He set it on the table and the Captain reached over and picked it up to inspect it.

"What do you think we should do, we don't need this entire ship to look for one Spartan and a small Spec Ops squad that could very likely be dead," he said.

"Then we need only send a small detachment," Karh said, "I'm sure you would like to learn the fate of your Spartan and me my brother, so we are at an impass."

The Captain thought, he looked up at Karh, "How small?" he asked, Karh smiled.

"Me, a pair of hunters and maybe some of your ODST's, would you be willing to have them under my control," he said.

"I don't see the need to send an asset such as yourself after a cold case, I understand it was your brother, and I would be willing to send my ODST's, but I don't think it would be a good idea to send you," he said.

"Then what shall we send?"

He rubbed his chin in thought, "A squad of ODST's surely, would you be willing to offer anything else?" he asked.

"A hunter pair may be too much now that I think of it…one elite ultra, and maybe a small squad of jackals," he suggested, "Or we can put that group of Drones to use," he added.

"I would say one elite is efficient enough, and three jackals, five drones?" he asked, Karh thought of this.

"How many ODST's will you send?"

"A squad, around eight," he said, seventeen fighters in all, Karh nodded.

"That will do fine, I will prepare a dropship, make sure we have a backup power source or spare ship aboard in case of a crash, smaller crystals have been tested and have resulted in small EMP blasts," he warned best to be prepared.

"Alright make sure we send a Phantasm then," the Captain said before nodding and walking out. A Phantasm was something created when the war had ended and the UNSC had received Covenant tech. It was a larger form of aircraft capable of withstanding hard re-entries or landings/crashes and because of its size it was capable of carrying up to two other aircraft, a Shortsword and Banshee could fit in it if truly necessary.

He ordered his Drones and Jackals into the ship while two Shortswords were crammed in there against Karh's better judgment. He walked over to where his lieutenant stood watching, "Tor'Del," he said, the elite turned and bowed, "As you were," he said and stood next to him. "What do you think of this?" he asked as he watched an ODST argue with a jackal over weapons.

"It is an interesting choice in crew but I can handle it," he said watching the scene unfold, the Jackal finally backing down and cursing the ODST. "I will bring as much information back as I can," Tor'Del said.

"When you get there you may need another crystal to get back, if you find the other two crystals or shards of them it may be enough to bring you back," he informed the warrior.

"What do you think we will find?" he asked.

"Whatever the two before you did I can imagine," Karh responded, meaning he could not know until he went through.

"I will find what I can about your brother sir but it has been long," he said looking at Karh who continued to watch the loading of the ship.

"I know it has, find what you can and bring it back, I have already grieved for the worst already. Just find the other crystals upon getting there and return when you have found the fates of the Demon and my brother and his crew."

"What of the humans?"

"What of them? They will surely not get in the way, it is a simple op if anything, I can expect you not to fail Tor'Del, I have taught you too well to do so."

"I would sooner die."

"And that is all I ask, try to keep them in line, I do not believe the Captain chose the best of crew for his side," Karh finished eyeing the two human females who almost flirted with the members of their squad.

"I'll do my best Shipmaaster," Tor'Del said turning to him.

"Then I bid you farewell," Karh said placing a hand on the elites shoulder and giving it a small shake, "Take care of your team," he said and the elite nodded before turning and walking away. "And Lieutenant," Karh yelled to him, "Do remember to activate the beacon if you come back we don't want you dying in your ship because you did not remember," he said.

"I shall Shipmaster," he called back and stepped aboard the vessel, directing commands aboard it already as the door began to close. He had high hopes for this lad, he hoped he came back for more than his own sake.

* * *

><p>Sergeant Anne Delion sat at the table eating her meal when she three more ODST's sat down next to her, the elite sitting a table away.<p>

"Hey Serge what do you think of all this?" Private Bennic asked. "I mean I can't be the only one who thinks it's a bad idea to be working with Covies."

"Oh shut up Bennic, you know as well as we do that we don't want them coming along, bad enough working with them on the ship let alone an op," Corporal Hane snapped.

Anne sat in silence and watched the elite as it glanced over at them. She blew a loc of brown hair out of her eye and sat forward, her eyes still trained on the elite, "You idiots had better learn to keep your voice down, don't want eaves droppers, do we now?" She despised the Covenant to put it lightly, they had killed her family and burned the city she grew up in, and now she had to work with them like they were her soldiers.

The elite looked over and the rest of the ODST's did like-wise with him, "Then maybe you should not speak so loud so as to leave me no choice in doing so," he countered. "We are no longer part of the Covenant and hold no hate for you, so why do you still refer to us as so?" he asked in a tone she did not think an elite could speak.

"Well maybe if you and your buddies hadn't killed our friends and family and glassed our worlds then maybe we wouldn't have to hate you," Hane shot back rudely. The elite slowly turned his head and stared at her with those unblinking glowing eyes that were his optics.

"Not all in the Covenant saw the need for humans to be destroyed in such an inhumane and injustice way. But the Prophets sought the destruction of your species, not I and not my brethren, till you see it that way then we may have problems," he finished, standing and tossing his tray in the bin as he passed them.

There was silence for a moment after the elite had made his exit, "Damn, why do they have to be such good freakin' speakers," Private Henry commented.

"Ah shut up you stupid red neck and finish your slop, Agnus might get pissed if you don't," Hane said and began to finish her food as Anne looked at the door still before looking at her food.

She stood and tossed her tray out, "Whatever we're going to go looking for I wanna be fully rested by the time we get there," she said leaving the small group silent as she walked out. She passed two jackals who nodded as she past, she almost felt like sneering but remembered that she needed to get used to her "team" before any rash actions were taken.

She walked into the crew quarters where she saw a jackal sleeping in a bed with its arms over its chest while the elite put a bag onto his bed before staring at her as he walked out. She watched him as he passed her and she looked back at the quarters, walking to the cot closest to the door and lying down on it.

She closed her eyes, despite the thoughts going through her head sleep came quick.

* * *

><p>When she awoke alarms were blaring and the Jackal was gone, she felt her arm being shaken. She looked to see another ODST in full gear handing her her suit, she donned it as quickly as she could.<p>

"What's going on Marine, hurry?" she asked rushing out of crew quarters with the ODST.

"Ma'am, the crystal released some sort of energy wave as we came out of slip-space, almost every system in the ship down and we're crashing through atmosphere of an unknown world." She had to give the marine credit, he could sum up fast.

"Get all troops to the pods and get ready to launch, if we're going to be crashing through atmosphere then we better go in the right way," she said.

There was a shaking and the two stumbled as a jackal ran past them to the bridge. "We already considered that option ma'am, whichever ones did fire on their own are fried, we're stuck on the ship till we touch down."

"Then God have mercy on us," she said as they walked into the bridge to see the elite shouting commands trying to get the ship under control, and he was doing a surprisingly good job at it.

"Get whatever control we have to trying to keep this ship steady, we need to make sure we don't nose dive into the planet," he said.

"Whatever you say boss thing," one of the pilots said, earning a small growl from Tor'Del, he turned to Anne.

"Sergeant, I was wondering when you were going to show, take a seat and strap in, we're in for a rough landing," he said turning back and grabbing the railing as the ship lurched. "What was that?" he asked urgently as there was a small explosion.

"The archer missiles are self-destructing sir," a jackal said in a throaty voice.

"Where are the drones!" Tor'Del demanded as a terminal next to him exploded showering the trio with glass.

"Their in the hangar making sure the spare ships will survive the crash and repairing them if necessary," an ODST said.

"They should have given us engineers," Tor'Del growled and turned back to Anne. "Sergeant round your marines up and make sure they're ready, we need to make sure everyone is accounted for when we land and be prepared for if there is anything waiting for us down there."

At any other time she would have protested, no way would she take an order from an elite, but he knew what he was doing and she wasn't really in a position to argue. "Fine," she said and waved the ODST that was with her to follow, Tor'Del turned and began shouting commands again.

When everyone was in the troop bay she counted heads, three were in the bridge, and there were five here including her, everyone one accounted for that she cared for. The Drones buzzed around overhead fixing bursting wires and trying to save the ships as best they can, they may not be able to take a hard hit but boy can they fix.

"Alright make sure all your gear is ready we could be touching down any second now," she said and readied her assault rifle, everyone else doing likewise with their weapons.

Suddenly the ship lurched hard and everyone was thrown like toys as the ship bounced off a mountain. By the time Anne hit the ground again she was in the air as the ship had now struck solid ground and bounced again. This time the floor came up to meet her as the ship yet again bounced before sliding to a stop, but by this time she was already unconscious.

* * *

><p>Tor'Del groaned as he opened his eyes and looked around the bridge, he stood and shoved a piece of metal that had fallen on him to the side. He looked around to see two marine had been killed, one due to an explosion and the other had been impaled by a piece of metal, the other was out of his sight. A jackal stood through the wreckage and grabbed and shook his head, looking around before pulling the other jackal away from a burning fire.<p>

Tor'Del walked over and checked the jackals before looking around the bridge, the two he suspected dead were indeed so, and as he looked around he found the last one with a piece of metal covering her lower body.

* * *

><p>Amanda opened her eyes groggily, her head was pounding and her body ached all over, she could barely feel her legs. She tried again to open her eyes, she saw a figure shove aside something as it tried to get to her before she faded again. She opened her eyes again to see it coming closer but her vision was too blurred, she faded again. When she opened her eyes she saw a figure in white hard looking, singed armor barring down on her, it looked like a monster.<p>

She panicked and began trying to struggle but was too weak, without a word the figure reached down for her, she tried to lift her hands to stop it but it would barley rise. The creature threw something off of her and swung an arm under her legs and another supported her back as it lifted her off the ground and carried her.

She faded one more time and when she woke up she was still in the arms of the creature, the room was different, but it was still dark, barely lit by what looked like fire, the air was hard to breathe and she began coughing a little. Suddenly she heard a banging and saw it kick down a piece of metal, she winced as bright sunlight filled her vision.

The air became easier to breathe, when she finally adjusted to the light she realized she was outside, in a large clearing surrounded by woods. She raised a hand to cover her eyes from the sun, she looked up at the creature carrying her, it stood still, looking out at the clearing. She realized it was an elite, her memory coming back to her, there was a burning wreckage behind it as it finally stepped forward, jumping down a small rise caused by the ship when it had crashed.

The elite's armor was singed and blackened in places but the white of the ultra armor still stuck out. He set her down and looked behind them, she heard coughing and saw other people stumbling around down the clearing away from another part of the ship.

"Are you injured?" she heard a voice ask her, she looked up at the elite as it reached down and lifted her head up to give her a sip of water. She didn't know, she could barely feel anything truthfully. She sipped the water and felt it heal her dry throat, she saw two jackals run out of the hole in the ship the elite had kicked out.

"I-I…I don't…" she tried to say, but it shook its head.

"You are not well, do not speak, I will get a medic, if I can find one," he said gravely looking up at the group across the clearing as they made their way over, he went to meet them.

Amanda closed her eyes briefly, but when she opened them again a man was over her in full ODST combat armor holding her back up and doing something to her legs.

"She'll make it, but I don't think she'll be able to walk on her own for a while," he said to the group behind him. Her ears were ringing and the voice sounded distant despite him being right in front of her. She needed rest, she was tired, she closed her eyes again.

* * *

><p>"Hey stay with me kid," the medic said as the girl Tor'Del had pulled from the bridge closed her eyes, she didn't respond. He shook her shoulder and felt her neck, then he put his head to her chest and sat up slowly, he shook his head sadly, Tor'Del sighed, he had tried but he had not been fast enough.<p>

Anne looked at the elite as he seemed to hang his head slightly, he looked at the dead girl as the medic threw a blanket over her, he turned away slowly and went to speak to what troops he had left. Anne felt something for the elite, true she was saddened by the death of her own squad-mate, the girl wasn't even part of the elite's squad though and still he was saddened to see her die, did he honestly care.

She had lost four troops, three in the bridge and one in the troop bay, she was surprised slightly at the numbers, true she would have taken not deaths, but it was a hard crash and she was slightly surprised she had come out of it if only barely. By the looks of what the elite was dealing with there were still four drones left and two jackals, he had the better number of the two groups.

Suddenly he said something to the drones and they flew off to where the hangar door were open on the ground, flying into the ship. "Ultra, what are they doing?" Anne asked seriously and in a demanding tone.

"They are retrieving what they worked so hard to protect," he said glancing at her.

"They saved the spare ships?" she asked dumbfounded.

"In a way, the ships are greatly damaged but through the drones efforts they're still within fixable range, though it will take long," he said.

"So we have a way off this rock?" she asked.

"When the drones have repaired them yes, they aren't as good as the Huragok but they are hard workers and are killed enough. But until they are done we are stuck here, I would suggest leaving troops here to defend them but we are already spread thin enough and we cannot leave without what we are looking for."

"You don't seriously think that those two ships could have survived that kind of landing?" she asked. "We have a ship that was designed to be able to withstand crashes and now look at it, we'll be lucky if we can so much as find the remains of them.

"Ah so you are giving up Sergeant, is that it?" the elite asked leaning forward.

She stopped in mid though and looked at the elite, "No, but that doesn't mean we'll find them alive."

"We don't have to, we just need to discover their fate. Until then we need to set up a perimeter and be able to hold this position until the ships are complete. Let us salvage what we can from the ship and then we can decide what we will do," he said, Anne nodded.

She gave her commands to what was left of her troops and they waited for most of the flames to die down before going aboard, they went for the armory first. If they were gonna be here for a while they had better be sure they can last that long.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello everyone who is reading to this point. i apologize for this delay but i have been up to my eyes in finals lately and haven't had much time to work on this. but i have finally done so and here you are reading this right now. so i thank everyone who has gotten to this point and ask that you please leave a review. thank you all again and hopefully i'll be able to get these up kinda fast, so to that toodles.<strong>


	16. Chapter 16

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 16

Tor'Del crept through the foliage as he readied his needle rifle, he quickly checked the jackal and ODST in his company and they nodded. They had discovered that they were not alone here and they had picked up an automatic distress call from the crashed ship. When they had discovered the distress signal the Sergeant insisted she come but he needed someone who knew what they were doing while he searched the area.

While scouting they had discovered that there were humans here, but very primitive, even by present standards. According to the ODST in his company humans haven't used such primitive and savage ways in over three-hundred years.

And as he crept he saw another band of savages as they seemed to be interrogating three people with sacks over their heads and their hands tied. Suddenly one walked over and ripped the sack off of one of the hostages' heads and he saw that the human had long pointed ears.

"Huh, well ain't that interesting?" the ODST whispered quietly, Tor'Del turned, the red neck snapped out of his daze and noticed his gaze. "That's an elf, well I think it is. They're supposed to be like people but they know magic and have strange pointed ears. But they're just a myth," he said.

Tor'Del looked at nothing in particular and then turned to the band of thieves as the one who had taken the sack off the girls head hit her with a metal gauntlet. There was no honor in what he was doing, it may have been acceptable if it wasn't a child.

Tor'Del raised his rifle and took aim, he signaled his companions to prepare and set his hand on his rifle to steady it as the man raised his fist again. He pulled the trigger and a brief pink light zipped through the air as the needle buried itself in the mans neck.

The mans companions jumped in surprise as he grabbed his neck where the needle had imbedded itself. He tried to pull it out but it exploded, sending pink fragments and parts of the mans neck and hand flying about. The others took out shields and swords and looked around with fear in their eyes as the supposed elf girl looked around in surprise.

Tor'Del lined up another and fired as the jackal and ODST opened fired, needles and pullets streaking out of the bushes to kill the adversaries. A minute had passed when all the slavers lay dead on the ground, and the trio carefully stepped out of their cover.

The girl took one look at the three of them and her eyes and face filled with fright as she tried to get away but fell over. Tor'Del walked over to the girl and grabbed her and pulled her to her knees and undid her bonds with his wrist blades. She looked at him in surprise and then her hands, the Jackal and ODST helped the other two, another was an elf while the other was a human.

"What…what are you?" the girl asked.

He looked down on the girl, he stood at least two feet taller than her, heck he stood a foot and half taller than the human. His ODST companion spoke up, "I am a human, this here is my elite leader here and his jackal friend," he said, the jackal looked over to him and made a quiet squawk of annoyance.

Tor'Del looked at the ODST for a moment before looking at the girl, "We are here on a mission to find my shipmaster's brother and a long disappeared demon, a Spartan," he said.

"What are those?" she asked looking extremely confused, but somewhere in her eyes was a look of fear.

The human and elf with her slowly walked forward and whispered something in her ear, her eyes widened and they began to back up. "We know what you are, the warrior has dealt with you once before he can do it again," the man said.

Tor'Del burrowed his brow under his mask, he held up the holopad and showed them a picture of the Spartan, they looked at it. "Is this the warrior?" he asked, but the other thing the human had said set him at unease. The Spartan had dealt with his kind before, that could only mean one thing, "What happened to the other?" he asked changing the picture to Bet'Karh.

The elf girl looked at it, "He killed the monster, he saved another girl and killed the monster, we have his things at the village," she said curiously, he looked at her.

"Shush girl," the older elf said.

The ODST walked forward and took off his helmet, "It's alright, he is not like the other, we just want to recover his thing and try to bring the…warrior back home," he said.

The trio looked at them, "They did save us," the girl said to the human.

He thought and looked at the jackal and then Tor'Del, "Then I guess we had better show you the ruins," he said.

"The ruins?" Tor'Del asked.

"Yes, the ruins, they appeared when the monsters and warrior did," the old elf said, "And the great fire," he said.

"What great fire?"

"When we found the ruins we walked a while later and came across another set of ruins, only it had great scars around the area. Like it was all burned to the ground, it was all black, but the fire was confined to that area."

"I saw it," the girl said.

Tor'Del crouched down to her level, "What did you see?"

"It was like a fire but it was purple and blue and it rose into the sky before disappearing, there was a heavy wind that followed a while afterward. It was strange, there wasn't a sound or anything, it was there for a moment before fading and was gone."

Tor'Del looked at his companions, they knew exactly what she was talking about. When Bet'Karh had crashed he must have set the ship to self destruct and gotten out of dodge. "You said there was ruins in the center of the area?"

"Yes it looked like a large hollowed out crab shell that was burned," the old elf said.

Well it was probably the best they would get out of them, "We know where the first set of ruins are but we ask you to show us where the second set of ruins are and we also ask to bring us to this village," Tor'Del asked. "Also we would like to meet this warrior," he said.

"Well you won't find him in the village," the human said with crossed arms.

"Clarify."

"He left with the Dalish over a year ago to Kirkwall," he said.

This could present a problem, "Where is it, the village and this Kirkwall?"

"The village is two days from the ruins and Kirkwall is over a month away by carriage," definitely a problem.

"Then we will lead the way to the first set of ruins and then you can guide us to the second," he clarified and they nodded. "Then let us be off," he said and checked his holopad before walking in the direction of the beacon.

* * *

><p>Several hours later they found the wreckage, the ship had dug a long crevice and once they spotted that they just followed it. The ship itself was overgrown in vegetation and looked almost like a Forerunner site in this place, worth just as much to him now. Tor'Del walked over to the ramp that was dented slightly and collapsed in the dirt, he walked up it and looked around the space, the ODST following soon after while the jackal stood guard.<p>

"What do you think?" he asked the marine.

"It's definitely UNSC it's a longsword fighter, but by the looks of it it barely survived the crash," he said looking around with Tor'Del. He walked passed something and spotted something out of the corner of his eye, he turned and was surprised he almost missed it with the amount of vegetation covering it. He walked over and tore some vegetation off of the cryopod and found the terminal next to it, a sniper busted in half on the floor, "Hey chief, I think I found something," he said.

Tor'Del walked over and brushed off the terminal while the ODST inspected the sniper rifle. He touched something important because it turned on, it was scrambled at first but eventually refocused and flashed a warning.

He read it, "Interesting. It seems our Spartan was woken from cryo-sleep and must have tried to land it, he must have been a great pilot," he noted.

The marine stood and Tor'Del allowed him to see it, his reading of the human language wasn't good but he could read some. "That's what it looks like," he said in agreement and they explored the ship some more, finding nothing they stepped out into the night sky.

"Well?" the human asked impatiently.

"The Spartan crashed here many a year ago, there are many thing you will not understand human, I suggest you do not dabble in times you were not meant to dabble in," he said. He looked at the ODST to see him walk out with the sniper wrapped in a cloth and stored in a sack which he put on his back. "As promised would you gladly lead us to the second wreckage…ruin," he said.

"Whatever you say," the human said turning and walking away, the two elves looked between themselves before following.

"Keep an eye on them, something is not right," he whispered to his companions before following them. The more they learn of the fates of the ones before them the better.

* * *

><p>Telden didn't like this one bit. Here he was leading a monster to something his monster buddy left behind, and the human that was in his company, what was with him? There wasn't an armor he had seen on this planet that looked like that, just like the monsters and the warrior that they called the Spartan.<p>

"Telden slow down, we can't keep up if you go this fast," the elf girl Fern called.

"Sh!" he said turning to her, "The faster we lose them the better," he said.

"But they saved us, the least we can do is show them the ruins they're asking for, it's not much in return for saving us," Garrendal said.

"Yes but what else are they asking for, oh yeah, where is our village?" he whispered harshly. "Remember the last time something like that came?" he said.

"But they're different, I mean they even have a human with him," the girl said.

"Yeah well I don't trust them, let's just show them the ruin and then flee when they're not looking," he said turning to look at their followers not far behind but just out of earshot.

Despite all the possible counters going through their heads, the elves stayed quiet because they knew this was a conversation they weren't going to win. They just nodded and followed Telden, their followers not far behind.

* * *

><p>Tor'Del looked at the shell that once was his Shipmaster's brothers ship, now charred and blacked and scattered about the recently made clearing. He looked around but could find nothing, no bodies, no weapons, nothing. Whatever was going through Bet'Karh's head at the time it must have been to make sure all evidence of their presence was irradiated.<p>

"There is nothing here, I would assume but the crevice they bit the dust on the landing here also," the ODST said walking up to him after tossing aside a piece of scrap.

"He wanted to make sure there was no evidence," Tor'Del said watching the three people they had rescued converse not too far away.

"Well he did a damn fine job of doing so," he said walking around but still finding nothing.

"He was no fool, Bet'Karh, he knew what he was supposed to do and how best to do it," Tor'Del said. He thought as he inspected the inside of the vessel from outside, "If what happened to them happened to us then all the weapons they were carrying must not have been working, any smart commander would have made sure none of their technology fell into human hands."

"Still…so do we go with our three little fellows to their village or-," the marine never finished his sentence as he turned and saw the trio running, "Hey!" he shouted.

"Come we must not let them escape, we need to find where their village is," Tor'Del said sprinting after them with inhuman speed, but then, he wasn't human now was he.

Telden looked back and saw the creature hurtle over a log with ease while still keeping the same pace, which was faster then what they were going.

"Hurry he's catching up!" he urged and they picked up a little more speed, but as Telden looked behind him he knew it was a lost cause. Finally they all slowed to a stop, out of breath and panting, the creature walked over to them not even breathing heavily.

"Next time you should think before you run, we mean you no harm but we still need you. I promise no harm will come to you or your companions, but if you run from us then I cannot make sure of it," it said before turning and watching as the bird creature ran into the clearing with great speed also.

The human in strange armor finally ran into the clearing slightly out of breath, "Next time," he said panting, "tell me when you're gonna do that," he said standing straight.

"Come, let us not waste anymore time, we need to head back," the creature turned to them, "What you will see is not meant for your eyes, speak a word of what you see and I cannot promise what the outcome will be." It walked away and if they chose to stay then anything could happen to them, but if they went with it and did what it said then maybe they would get out of this alive.

Telden looked to his companions, they gave him dirty looks and walked passed him after the creature. Well, what choice did he have at this point, he sighed and reluctantly followed.

* * *

><p>Kaelesh opened his eyes as he heard a strange beeping sound. He yawned and stretched a bit to get the knots out of his back, trees weren't the most comfortable things to sleep in, but they were the safest. He traced the sound of the beeping to his holopad, strange.<p>

He picked it up and looked at it, skimming over the data it gave him, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. It was impossible, just simply impossible. There was no way in Seven Hells that there had been another ship. He looked up from the holopad and reached back into a small pouch he had, he looked at all the crystal fragments, so many from both the Spartan's and his crystal.

He put them away and thought a moment, if indeed another ship had crashed, there was just no other way onto the planet with amount of power the EMP had, then he must inform the Spartan. He put the holopad away and jumped from the tree and ran for the city that sat just over the horizon.

Maybe, just maybe, he could find a way home, finally find a way away from this war, finally be free.

* * *

><p>Will leaned against the table as he looked at the artifact that rested on it, most of Hawke's party doing likewise. He had finally found what he had been looking for, he picked up the sword from the table and his fingers tested the metal a little before he gestured everyone to give him space.<p>

Very few people had seen him pull out the blade, most of them were dead besides Merrill, Hawke, Varric, and Fenris. He lifted it into the air and brought it down, grasping the pressure plates tightly as the room filled with light from the pure energy that was formed in the shape of a double sided blade. He clicked the pressure plates again and the blade dispersed.

Isabelle walked forward and looked over his shoulder, well tried to, she eventually settled for looking around him. "Well that's a mighty fine looking artifact there, don't mind if I…hold it do you?"

He looked at her, they all learned the hard way what happened when she got her hands on an important 'artifact.' "Isabelle," Hawke said with a sigh whilst shaking her head.

"What? Are you guys seriously still hung up on the whole Qunari thing?" she asked.

"Isabelle, you took the Qunari's most sacred artifact and didn't tell us, and then ran off with it and forced me to put down the Arishok," Hawke said with a raised eyebrow and a hand on her hip.

"Well I came back," she mumbled to herself and skulked away.

"Aannyyway," Hawke said with a smile turning to Will, "I'm glad you finally found what you were looking for, wasn't easy but at least we found it eh?"

"Indeed," he said looking at the hilt and then up at Merrill, this thing meant something different to each of them but was important in the same way.

"What are you going to do with i-," Hawke was saying before she was cut off by the door being slammed open.

Kaelesh stood in the doorway, letting in some of the rain coming down from the night sky, "Kaelesh?" Merrill asked worried and walked forward.

He continued forward, most of the people in the room drawing their weapons including Hawke, but Will stood motionless as Merrill walked to meet the Skirmisher. "Demon," he said in his throaty, difficultly spoken English. Will was a bit surprised to be addressed by the Skirmisher, so was everyone else in the room as he was being referred to as a demon and he still responded.

He walked forward, Merrill stepped out of his way as Kaelesh shook some of the water from himself, he thrust his holopad into Will's hands. "Look," he demanded as urgently as his voice would allow.

Will looked at the holopad and was surprised when the Covenant runes changed to English, he read what looked like a report. After a moment he stopped in shock, "Impossible," he whispered so only him, Merrill, and Kaelesh heard, and Hawke as she began forward.

"What, what is it?" She asked trying to see what Will had.

"When did you get this Kaelesh?" Will said handing the pad back to the Skirmisher.

"Yest-er-day," he struggled to pronounce, "Not far…from others," he said. Others, what others?

"What do you mean…" he stopped and thought a moment, the other crash sights, they didn't crash too far from the other crashes? "The crash sites, they didn't fall far from them?" he asked, Kaelesh nodded.

"Not all," he said, Will furrowed his brow under his helmet, "Not. Friendly," he struggled.

He thought a moment, not friendly, then that must mean…Covenant.

Shit.

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><p><strong>AN: Hello again people reading this right here…right now. I apologize for how long this took and if this seems, what's the word, inadequate, I have been so out of it people it's freaking scary. Also this took so long because I wanted to start an assassin's creed fic buuut…didn't really take off so well so I think I'll just say that it is a failure and won't really continue it. <strong>

**If you are by some miracle interested in reading it, it's called Assassin's Creed: Hidden in plain sight. but that's just me wanting it to hopefully get more attention then, well, one person. So until next time, whenever that will be, here you go and I need to go take a freaking advil, toodles y'all.**


	17. Chapter 17

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 17

**AN: Hello again all! I deeply apologize for the length of this update but just haven't gotten around to it in a while. Contrary to seemingly popular belief I do actually have a life and other stories to attend to and I don't give four flying fudoodles if you rage at me for lengthy updates, you guys know who you are, but these are sometimes mood-based things but I also want to upload these at my own pace, not yours, and I don't want to screw up what is my most favorited story. **

** Now to a more pressing matter, I have been wanting to write either a Dead Space/Mass Effect Crossover or do a Skyrim thing that follows my character and how I perceived each situation. I won't really be forgetting those anytime soon considering I actually have progressed a little in it but if any of you guys are interested I'm gonna hold a poll that I think I'll take a look at say a week or two after and see which is more popular if anyone actually votes. So thanks for waiting and here is the next update!**

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><p>"Dammit Bennic I said get that crate over here!" the sergeant yelled over to one of the ODST's. "And where the hell is that jackal if we're gonna be setting up a perimeter then we need more than three people."<p>

"You had him on perimeter duty though serge, he's in the tree's somewhere," someone responded. Anne sighed irritably, the jackals were good snipers, better than any of the ODST's in the group, she had forgotten she had placed him there.

"Alright just get that crate over here," she said and waved them over to where they had set up a small outpost. They had a semicircle of heavy and hard things and they were able to scavenge a turret from the wreck. They had thought about setting up a portable radio tower but it was trashed.

"Just like everything else," she grumbled to herself as Bennic and Hane brought a large weapons case over and set it on top of another they had placed.

Bennic wiped his hands on his thighs and looked around, "Well I think we're ready for whatever is in this place," his hands on his hips. Suddenly Anne's short range comm. crackled to life, at least these were still working, a slightly high-pitch scratchy voice sounded in her ear.

"Sergeant, contact at one o'clock, it's not the lieutenant," the voice said in a hushed tone.

"Alright when they get close enough identify them as hostile if they had weapons, last thing we need is someone telling the world where we are," she said. An acknowledgment light blinked under her visor and she turned, "Alright people get ready we got company."

The remaining ODST's, her included, readied their weapons when her comm. crackled again, the voice now slightly hushed. "Sergeant, they're human, do you still wish me to open fire?" the jackal asked.

She paused, if there were humans here then what did that mean? "Are they hostiles?" she asked, an acknowledgement light winked on, "Alright, when they get to the edge of the clearing open fire, make sure one is alive."

She turned as the light winked on again, "You guys catch all that?" they nodded.

"Serge you really wanna shoot humans?" one of the corporals asked.

"Yeah I'm sure, there were insurrectionists before the war and I wouldn't be damned surprised if they're starting to pop up again," Anne said turning he backs to them. "Now get ready and take aim," she was feeling uneasy about killing her fellow humans, she was only about eight when the Covenant first reared their ugly heads but she knew not all humans were as patriotic as some.

They sat for a minute before Hane whispered to her, "Ma'am I see movement on the edge of the clearing." She nodded and looked through her battle rifles scope, she caught a gleam of what looked like metal, about six figures if she was seeing right. They waited patiently before the first of them walked into the clearing wearing nothing but metal armor and carrying wooden shields and short swords, one carrying an axe.

"These guys serious?" someone said quietly as they hid behind their cover watching the six men as they filed out into the clearing to look at the wreckage.

Her comm. buzzed, "I have a clear line of sight, should I take the shot?" a scratchy voice asked her.

Anne raised her palm a little to signal the ODST's to get ready. "Do it," she said and a moment later the sound of a needle rifle discharge was barely audible, followed by a gasp of pain and a thud. She clenched her fist and shifted it to grasp her rifle as Hane and Bennic swung up from cover too, all three downing one each and before the last two knew what was happening one of them had a needle in the back of his neck just under his helmet. The three ODST's stood, all with their guns trained on the man.

"On the ground now or we'll open fire!" Anne yelled and in a panic the man threw his axe to the ground and dove onto the ground with his hands on his head. "Good choice," she said and gestured the marines to get him as she lowered her gun. She activated her comm., "Nice shootin' I trust you'll inform us if this guy has buddies."

"Yes sergeant, and thank you," the comm. clicked off and she went to go interrogate the new captive, whatever the fuck was wrong with his head.

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><p>Will put all his weapons and ammo on the table and leaned on it with both hands as he stared in disgrace at what he had left, Kaelesh on the other end. He picked up his pistol, slid out the clip and checked the number of bullets left, eight, he sighed disdainfully and slid the clip back in and holstered it. He picked up the needle rifle, it still had a full clip left but if there were elites then it would take at least half of it just to down the shields.<p>

Will looked up at Kaelesh as he put the rifle on his back, "I would assume you don't have much ammo left on that," he commented, he nodded slowly. He frowned beneath his helmet. Soon he would have to resort to using his sword and after that Kaelesh's shipmaster's sword, but even those would run low on energy sooner or later. Well it wasn't like there was anything wrong with a sword and shield here but it felt awkward to use and he didn't like the feel of it.

Bows might be an option, no, he quickly banished the thought, with his augmentations he would probably overdraw it and snap either the bow itself or the string, hell maybe both.

"Well shit, I guess we're both in something of a predicament," he said and Kaelsh nodded with a shrug. It would probably be harder for him to get used to everything because of only having three fingers on each hand.

"So what do we do now?" Merrill asked him from the other room as she worked on some mirror they got from the tribe about a week ago.

"Well if they landed in the general area we did than that means they're at least a month away, and that's if they know how to get to us with carriage and if they set off for us immediately. That gives us some time hopefully, either way we'll know where they are as they close in on us." Things were getting pretty hairy around here too though and they needed to keep their eyes set on the nearer future. Hawke was trying her best to keep Meredith and Orsino from tearing each others throats out and so far things weren't looking too good.

"Until then we're just gonna have to help Hawke as best we can, things aren't looking too good around here and I think she'll need our help now more than ever." Will looked at Merrill as she turned around and walked over to him as he finished his sentence.

"Alright but what about Kaelsh?" Merrill asked looking over at the Skirmisher as he watched silently.

"Guess it's best you stick around here, no offense but as much as you stand out I think you're gonna need our help as much as we'll need yours when the other show up," Will said. Kaelesh agreed with an understanding nod and the trio set to work on getting plans set for if…when the Covenant arrive, don't wanna get caught with your pants down now do you.

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><p>Telden, Fern, and Garrendal followed the strange trio with tiring postures as the sky grew dark. Before when they were captured by the slavers they had been forced to walk and not eat and now was hardly any different, save the fact they didn't have sacks over their heads.<p>

"So where are we going exactly?" Telden asked as they climbed over the log with the assistance of the large creature, who was lifting them over with his bare hands. Picking Fern up and setting her down on the other side before finally hopping up a bit and swinging over himself.

"We are going to where we first arrived here, you will find it quite…similar to the ruins you brought us to," it said in it's gruff voice as they continued their walk. What did that mean? Did they have some weird structure that had an odd path leading too it? And as they closed in he couldn't have been more correct.

As they stepped out of the foliage several destroyed trees and some that had been flattened into a crevice soon became clear as day.

"Wow," Fern said in dumbfound astonishment as the three of them traced the crevice to where a grey smoke trail stood out against the sky. They had seen the paths leading to the other two ruins but this had to be the largest, and the deepest.

"Don't fall in, last thing we want is to have to have big boy here jump in and toss you out," the human said throwing a thumb over his shoulder to gesture to the large creature as he conversed with the bird–like one. They nodded but all took a good look into it first before they set off with everyone else.

Eventually they stepped into a clearing and stopped as the strange trio passed them and walked toward the large wreck as three more people like the human sat behind a small barrier before standing. After their shock wore off they all looked at each other, this must be what the creature was talking about, they speak a word of this to anyone and they had a one way ticket to meeting the Maker.

The trio started forward as shouting became clear between whoever the large creature was talking to and the creature himself.

"Are you fucking insane? I don't care if you're in charge of this operation, if one of them breathes a word of our location people are gonna come and when they find them go missing more will come and more and more until there's none of us left." It was a female yelling at it but it remained calm, its posture unchanged, suddenly it back-handed her across the mask, so hard she stumbled back. The other three in the strange armor tensed but remained where they were.

"Sergeant I have respect for you to a certain level, if you plan to insult your superiors based on their race and choices I should shoot you here and now for insubordination. I agree that it can provide a hazard but we have made a deal, they know the consequences," it said glancing back at them. He looked back at the woman slowly, "As I have said Sergeant, I know what I am to do, now will you allow me to voice what I have learned?" he asked in a still calm voice.

The woman looked back at them and though she had a helmet that covered her face they could feel the fire of her glare burning through them, she nodded finally.

"Good. Now, I have reason to believe that Bet'Karh did not survive when he encountered the Spartan at a nearby village. After said event he left with a band of… elves?" he asked for confirmation from the human that was traveling with them, he nodded. "If these three are sure about the direction in which they left then our next lead is a city that is a month away by beast-drawn carriage. Our best hope is to go to this village and procure any equipment from Bet'Karh's team and wait until the ships are done and go to this city. Not directly of course, but I think with would be a good idea for you and your troops to enter the city and try to locate the Spartan or any information about his location, understand?"

The sergeant, whatever that was, had almost instantly took on an in-thought look and listened intently to what the creature had to say. When he was done she nodded, "Alright. Well it sounds like we have this just about covered, now let me introduce you to our good old friend Algerius," she said waving a hand to where the other two strangers stood with off metal things pointed at a man on his knees.

"He was part of a band of mercenaries that was on the edge of the woods, we killed his buddies but he was lucky enough to be the last one standing," she said and the creature circled the man, Algerius, with its hands behind its back. "He told us quite a bit, not too much of it helpful, but we got what we needed."

"And what was that?" the creature asked.

The woman took off her helmet and let her short hair dangle a bit and shook it a bit as she smiled, "We know where your buddies stuff is."

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><p><strong>AN: Alright everyone I do apologize for the length of this one honestly I just don't have the right mindset right now, I actually have been working on this sadly for a couple days now but not much has been coming my way and I feel really bad cause nothing happens dammit! Sorry all I plan to hopefully update soon. Yes, this chapter is crap, but I just haven't been feeling in the zone for a while now. My plan is actually to update this chapter with some more stuff so check back in a week or so and I'll hopefully have something new. Until then please rage at me and if you still have hope in some of my writing abilities please place a vote in the poll and I'll see what I can juggle, till then see you all later.<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 18

Necromancy…

…Well, necromancy wasn't given the…how to put it, respect it deserved. Some people say that it was even worse than blood magic. Others said that it was wrong to tamper with Death, people died at their appointed times for reasons. But those people were incompetent idiots. People did not understand the art, in a way it was indeed like blood magic except for the fact that it did not require a demons assistance. Sure there were those who were weak and could not manifest the power, nor could they understand what they were getting themselves into. Or some sacrificed innocent people for no reason other than because they did not understand what they were getting themselves into.

Necromancy was a fine art when wielded by a competent enough person, and Radezar saw himself as a very, very competent mage. It all started when he was twelve when he was first exposed to necromancy. His neighbor, his name lost with time, had always been a strange man. There was just always a presence when he was around, a very strange, dark presence.

And one day Radezar saw strange lights coming from his neighbor's cellar, and let curiosity get the better of him. The cellar doors were unlocked, which was strange due to the fact they were always locked, always. He had crept down the stairs and saw a sight that led him down his path today.

The man was reciting a chant as he slowly circled a shriveled corpse, slow tears rolling down his straight face as he tossed powders and sprinkled liquids on and around the body. Radezar had watched as the shriveled up corpse began to turn lighter in color, it began to almost slowly fill itself with flesh and blood again. And as he watched he saw the man stop after yelling one loud syllable, its meaning lost to Radezar at the time, and after a moment the eyes of the body opened, and looked right at him.

The woman was beautiful, she had been dead but was now alive, and she stared right into his eyes and smiled, she raised a finger to her lips and stood, completely unclothed. She had turned to the man that had once been her husband, he had tears streaming down his face as he embraced her.

"My love," the woman had said as she returned the gesture.

"Yes my dear, I have waited so long to hold you in my arms," the man had said.

She held him at arms length and smiled kindly into his face, even as her sharp nailed hands dug through his skin, through his flesh and bones to where his heart was. "Love, you remember you had to pay with blood," she said as she crushed his heart in her hands, his face struck with confusion and fear and…sorrow as he collapsed into her arms.

Radezar had watched as the woman had stroked the head of the dead man that had once been her husband, and then turned and looked at him with the same kind smile. "Come here child," she had said as kindly as her smile but he dare not approach. She made a pouty face and stuck out her lip a little, "Now, now, you don't need to worry, the price has already been paid, you need only listen young one." She had been so sincere, so gentle and kind. His head screamed no, his body said yes, walking on its own as he stepped out from behind the spot he was hiding.

"Yes that's it child, don't worry you have nothing to fear from me," she had said. When he had reached her she kept out an open hand and when he drew near he grabbed it cautiously. She smiled and pulled him to her nude form and drew him into an embrace to which he felt he was in a…a, he didn't know what to call it, he felt almost empty-headed as he rested his head on her shoulder and she spoke to him. Her words filled his head, though he did not hear her. She filled his vision, though he could not see her. Every word he understood though, he did not know how to describe the feeling other than pure knowledge being put into his forehead.

And then he was released, and with his mind free he understood what he needed to do, what his goal was, what would drive him in life was. What was it? Hell if he fucking knew. It was in his head, it was like a new smell one could not describe, a taste or a sound that could not be replicated, but he knew somehow.

And each decade he had sacrificed a human for the woman until he was of age to marry her. Which he did. And now he knew her name, her name was Ellenor, and her face, her fair black hair, her deep purple eyes, all the same as the day he saw her resurrected before his own.

And there she sat watching from the corner of the room as Radezar performed what would be the most challenging and dangerous resurrections he had ever attempted. Almost two years ago a creature had come with a crew of other creatures with it and they hunted down a warrior to the village of Vexintile where he perished along with his companions. But he had recovered the bones, he had spent the last two years getting every piece of armor, every bone, every weapon it had used together.

"Now for the moment of truth," Radezar mumbled as he opened a cloth bag which housed the last piece to the puzzle. As Radezar pulled out the mask he felt goose pimples prick his arms. In this lighting the half charred and melted half of the already dark mask was a sight that had given even his dear Ellenor a chill when they had…found it.

Radezar placed the mask with the rest of the bones and armor and stepped back to view it in all its glory. The creature was odd indeed, where a normal human, or any creature really, had a single jaw bone and about five digits on each hand/claw, this warrior had a split jaw divided into four parts of the mouth itself. To add onto that it had four digits on each hand, two even length forefingers and two opposable thumbs, one on each side of the hand.

"It is a pity we did not recover the sword before the other warrior did," Ellenor said as she walked up to where the body was and ran a hand elegantly up the chest piece. She caressed the mask with a hand as she would a lover, "Such a magnificent creature, are you ready?" she asked turning to him.

Radezar smiled and nodded eagerly, holding up a black, leather bound book, "When you are dear," he spoke.

She smiled evilly, "Good, very good," her smiled drooped to a straighter face, "sadly even this is beyond your skill and my own alone, we will need each other if we hope to do this correctly. Is the blood ready to be spilled?" she asked.

Radezar never let the smile leave his face as he turned and opened a small cellar within the house. In said cellar was a boy with brown hair, Radezar had found him on the streets fighting several other children for scraps left behind and when Radezar had seen the child come out on top he could not resist. He had a warriors spirit and a survivors instinct, something he had been looking for for a while now.

He crabbed the boy by the collar and lifted him off his feet, the boy tried to get out of his binds as he was thrown on the floor next to the body, his face looking right into the mask. The boy jumped back but was kicked viciously back into the circle the ritual was to take place.

"Let us begin," Ellenor said as she revealed a wicked dagger from her sleeve, she began a slow walk toward the circle as she began to chant, Radezar, having opened the book, began as well. It was in a language not even Radezar knew what it belonged to, but he understood it and spoke it.

The boy again tried to exit the circle but was bounced back by a field that had erected itself on the circles edge. The boys eyes grew wider as Ellenor and the dagger drew closer and closer, Radezar saw as all hope the child had drained from his eyes as Ellenor stopped at the edge of the circle.

The bones began to crack and pop into place, flesh a pale purple began to form around them as the form took the shape of that which it previously was. And then it all stopped as Ellenor and Radezar stopped their chant, Ellenor looking into the circle at the boy. A wicked smile grew on her face as she reached forward and grabbed the boy's hair as he tried to get away, she pulled it back and set the dagger on the boys neck before wetting it with red hot blood.

She took a step back as she threw the blood stained dagger into the floor beside the body, a crimson river almost gaining a mind of its own as it began to make runes and symbols around the body and dagger. Both of them paused in hesitation as suddenly the blood stopped upon completion, the blood was in shapes they had never seen before.

"No, no we did it all right, what did we do wrong!" Ellenor yelled, but was quickly silenced as the blood, from the point of the dagger, began to turn black. It spread to through the rest of the blood like an infection, the change was clear even in the lighting of only ritual candles.

Radezar stood agape with Ellenor as the last of the blood had turned. Then it all suddenly began to move toward the body at amazing speeds and the duo watched as the pale skin began to grow darker and darker in color, thick muscles wrapping around the bone beneath it. Finally it stopped, the creature lay there unmoving, the body of the blood drained child beside it.

The light of the circle dimmed and faded and finally they were left in silence with nothing but the low crackling of the candles. Ellenor walked forward and crouched beside it, she reached out to touch it when suddenly a fist clenched on the right hand, a small blade of light formed instantly and the left arm shot up and shoved Ellenor back.

The creature shot up with its right arm back ready to strike while its left arm stood held out.

Radezar held up his arms in surrender but he kept a straight, serious face as the creature looked between them. It slowly circled around a little till it had both of them in his sight at once, he was no fool.

"Hello, warrior," Radezar said not know quite how to explain to the creature who he was or if it would understand. It must not have for it did not even react except for looking directly at him. "Do you understand me, nod please if you can."

"Human, if you wish to speak to me as if I was an adolescent take it up with one lest I remove your head from your pathetic body," the warrior spoke to him, his voice deep and almost throaty.

"We only wish to help you, you were dead for quite some time, you know," Ellenor said.

The warrior stood still, the mask preventing them from seeing his face. "I do not wish for your help human, I doubt there is an excuse even from a lying species such as yourselves that will convince me otherwise," he said plainly.

Radezar felt sweat forming on his brow, if they could not pull this off there was little they could do to stop him if anything at all. How would he convince him, please his curiosity, what? The other warrior that killed him previously, yes that'll work.

"Fine, you can kill us and maybe any other human you see," Radezar began, "But we will be the only ones who will willingly give you the location of the warrior that killed you."

The creature looked at him, then Ellenor, obviously torn between a tough decision. Finally he let out an angry growl, "Fine human," he said deactivating the light blade on his wrist, "I will spare your lives, but do not expect me to do so in the future," he said.

Radezar let a smile creep onto his face, good, soon they could have him under control. The warrior walked forward and Radezar tensed, "Dare I ask how it is that you…resurrected me human," he spoke quietly. Radezar let the same lazy smile stay on his face as he pointed to the circle and the remains of the boy. The warrior snarled angrily and spun to face Radezar with his left arm drawn back before delivering a vicious backhand with it.

"There is no honor in the slaughter of children for pointless exercise as if for sport. Human, you are testing this Sangheili to breaking point, do not expect our temporary alliance to last if this is how you work human."

Radezar had a hand on his cheek, the 'Sangheili' before him must have been holding back when it had backhanded him because he could feel a pain in his neck, any harder and it surely would have killed him. But he quickly composed himself, straightening his shirt, he cleared his throat, "I apologize, but would I have the honor of knowing your name?" he asked generously.

He could almost feel the sneer on the warriors face, "You have no honor human, but if this will be a lasting alliance I suppose names are in order. Bet'Karh," he said.

"Alright Bet'Karh, I am Radezar Delfirre, and this is my lovely wife Ellenor," he said gesturing to his dear as she walked up to him with a smile on her face.

"It is a pleasure Bet'Karh," she said.

He scoffed, "Yes, the feeling's mutual," he said somewhat sarcastically as he crossed his arms. "Now tell me human, where is the Demon?" Bet'Karh asked getting his face close to Radezar's.

He looked confused, "What demon? And this wasn't part of our deal!"

"Deal human? Deal? The only 'deal' there may be is me sparing your life and you not withholding the information I require."

Radezar began to panic, he resurrected Bet'Karh for himself, he did not expect him to be so free willed. If he withheld the information from him he lost his life, if he did not he lost any point in raising him.

"I brought you back from the dead, the least you can do is something in return other than just spare me!" Radezar yelled angrily.

The Sangheili stared at him for what felt like eternity, Radezar felt Ellenor's hand on his shoulder but he did not turn, he held the warriors gaze, staring straight into those two glowing lights.

What could pass for a chuckle originated from Bet'Karh, his chest visibly moving with each breath despite his crossed arms.

"Fine human, we'll do it your way, there are few I know who would stand against a Sangheili so bravely, or foolishly," he added, his voice almost instantly taking a dead tone. "But remember this, 'Radezar,' ask anything of me that would otherwise betray my honor, and I will rip your skull from your spine," and with that he broke eye contact and looked around. "Until then, death has brought quite a…new feeling, to these bones," he clenched and unclenched his hands as he looked at them. "I will need to adjust before you ask anything of me," he said looking at Radezar, "Then I will kill the Demon."

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><p><strong>AN: I apologize for the long update, I was planning on uploading it a long time ago but my computer, overstately so, came close to exploding, so yeah, took a while before I could get another, took a while to rewrite it, yada yada, so on and so forth. Hope you guys all enjoy and leave a review, it would be appreciated.<strong>


	19. A note

A note:

Hello everyone following all my stories, old and new. I want to apologize as this won't be an actual update to any of my stories but news of a great tragedy, to myself at least. My computer had contracted a virus, how, where, or when I don't know, and it was a pretty bad one. Needless to say I had to bring my laptop in because the thing wouldn't even turn on anymore. When I did that, a few minutes later the guy calls me and tells me that he had to completely reconstruct my hard drive and wanted to let me know I would probably lose some stuff. Needless to say, I lost everything but a couple of my documents, a good majority of them being lost.

So to tell you all, I was actually planning on updating all my stories all at once when this happened. I know a lot of people have been waiting for updates for a very long time and I apologize, but at this point I don't even know what to do but start anew. For everyone wondering, the only salvaged documents were for a story I hadn't posted yet, all of _The Abyssal_ documents, some of the _Persecution Complex_ documents and honestly not much else. A couple of them had documents with chapters I was almost done with or had edited, but every new thing that had been added or any of said edits were replaced by lengthy amounts of rectangles and errors. It was pretty bad. That and for some reason one of my already posted stories deleted itself and with its document gone, I don't know what to do.

To say I've about lost my spark for those stories is pretty accurate. I know I must sound pathetic right now, but you people also have to understand how much of my life I've put into writing and to have it all just disappear like it never mattered is…it leaves a pretty empty feeling inside. So, uh…I don't know what to say really. It might be a while until I update some of my already written stories but for some reason I've been having an urge to write a new/couple new stories after reading quite a few truly good ones on fanfiction.

I guess this might be the end for some stories, I apologize, but right now a new story, The Abyssal, and maybe Persecution Complex are on my mind at the moment. I'm sorry everyone, I really am, but I just don't know what to do.

With that, I hope you guys have enjoyed my stories for what they have been. Thank you, all of you who have supported me and my stories and wish you all a great day/night. See ya guys, it's been fun.

~Reaper81609


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